How Would Life Adapt to Survive on Another Planet? Kristina Duncan (Castro Valley HS), Elaine Gardner (Castro Valley HS), Steve Holcombe (San Leandro HS) Essential Question/Problem Students will be given a space colonization scenario in which they will design the organism that they think will best survive the conditions of their planet. Case is designed to be used at the end of a unit on Evolution Introduces extremophiles as examples of organisms with unique adaptations to extreme environments on Earth. Students will use this information to answer the question: How would life adapt to survive on another planet? Applied NASA Resources Article Extremophile Hunt Begins at-nasa/2008/07feb_cloroxlake/ Activities from Life on Earth…and Elsewhere? NASA’s Astrobiology in the Classroom Institute. obiology-Educator-Guide-2007.pdf Photo Images of Extremophiles from Learning Objectives Biology Content Standards Students apply the principles natural selection in determining the differential survival of groups of organisms Students will also consider and apply the principles of genetic variation, genetic drift, and speciation. 21st Century Skills Creativity, innovation, critical thinking, collaboration communication, responsibility Key Lessons and Activities ENGAGE: Series of extremophile video clips EXPLORE: Card Game: Students match extremophile adaptations to appropriate environments Students explore habitability requirements of planets through a lab station activity that uses graphic organizers for data collection EXPLAIN: Article: Extremophile Hunt Begins utilizing reading literacy strategies Students collect data on the different adaptations of extremophiles on Earth EXTEND: Students will plan and design adaptations that will allow human colonists to survive on a fictitious planet. EVALUATE: Formative: Scaffolded class discussions, Collaboration Skills Checklist Poster: “SpaceBook Intergalactica Profile” page will illustrate the organism’s adaptations Narrative story: Individual reflective writing containing evolution content that utilizes structured story frames. Research-Based Strategies Vocabulary scaffolds and graphic organizer Multimoldal presentation of content Graphic organizer to facilitate data collection Structured story frames and sentence starters Reading scaffolds: anticipation guide, text annotation during reading, post reading discussion Collaborative teams with a skills checklist to monitor group work 21st century skills promoted with creativity and collaborative aspects of the project. Image Credits ophiles_2.jpg agen_creation_by_sicanstudios.com.jpg ExtremophileCartoon.jpg d-radiodurans.jpg