With school winding down and testing over I like to give my students an idea of what real scientists have to do. In this TLAD (Think like a disciplinarian) my students because astro-scientists. They learned how astronomers determine what the characteristics for a habitable planet are. They then got to use the tools that astronomers use in order to find planets in other solar systems that meet those characteristics. From there they were put into groups with each person in the group taking on the roll of a different astro-scientist. Some were astro-biologist and learned the importance of producers and decomposers in creating a habitable planet. Others were astro-geologists and learned why plate movement and volcanoes are important. Yet others were atmospheric scientists and they learned why we need an ozone layer and why its actually bad for us to have to much oxygen in our atmosphere. The students then used their knowledge to come up with their own habitable planet and star system. They had to explain the biological, geological, and atmospheric features that help make their planet habitable. Some of my students chose to present their planet on a poster, other chose to create a powerpoint presentation, and yet others decided to make a 3-D model. I even had one group create a travel commercial for visiting their planet. The students had a great time and really enjoyed learning about the different tools and what it takes to discover planets that have the possibility of life. You can see a slide show of some of my students projects below
