After Reading December 14, 2007

I would then ask them for any questions on the material and either answer questions or assign them for extra credit.

I will then have them take out the summary list that they completed the night before. I will tell them to make an idea web of the ideas in the article, using both what they came up with the night before and our in-class discussion. (Including the compare-contrast chart on the board and hand out copies of their answers to why life on other planets is important (that was recorded on the board the previous day)).
I will also have them make a word tree of words that they don’t understand. I will add to this as needed. I will tell them that the idea web and word trees are due the next day as part of their test grade (ex. 10 points on the test…or 5 points and 5 bonus points, etc.)

To see that my three objectives are met:
1. The word tree should help with understanding the meaning of what an exoplanet is.
2. By in class discussion of the planet and notes from the article it should be apparent what the importance of Epsilon Eridani is. The comparison to earth should make point out that it is similar to what some scientists think early earth looked like. If so, will we find life on that planet to? If so, we are not alone in the universe. I hope to prompt them thinking on things like that.
3. This goes along with some of the questions that I just raised in point # 2. If there is definitive proof of life on another planet…does that change our whole belief structure? How does what they believe change this. Do they agree with how some scientists think the earth was formed? I would like to expand out to these questions in further classes.

In class strategy December 14, 2007

The students will come in and I will start the class by having them do a ticket into class. They would need to each tell me one thing that they learned from the article, with no repeated answers.  I would then ask them why I had them read the article. I would give my interest in the article, as well as the fact that we were exploring how life might look on another planet. Then using a compare and contrast chart on the board, I would have them, compare and contrast conditions on Titan, and Epsilon Eridani b using quotes from the article and what they know about Earth.

Then I would have them  re-read the article in this fashion: someone would read a section, and then we would stop and discuss. During the discussion I would ask them questions about the section that they just read to point out important information and to prompt deeper thought. Examples: Why is the wobble important? Why is life unlikely to be found on Titan? How did they discover that Epsilon Eridani had a planet? Why is now such a crucial time to be looking at EE? What would it mean if there was life there? How would we know if there was life there? So on and so forth with each section. Starting halfway through the article, I would have them pose questions to the class, both questions that they know the answers to and ones that they don’t know the answers to. I would step in for questions that no one knew, or if none of us knew it, assign it for extra credit. This way they would be asking questions of the text and thinking about it that way.

Although they had read it the night before for homework, it was more to familiarize them with the material than anything else, so that they would have some background knowledge of the article before they came to class, since it could be a challenging article for some of them.

Before Reading Activity December 14, 2007

“Okay guys, I have an article here for you all to read. Remember how last week we discussed the neccesary conditions for life to exist on Earth?” (Wait for student answers) “Well this article has to do with the possibility of life on another planet; an exoplanet. Can anyone tell me what an exoplanet is?” (Wait for student answers. I didn’t know it before hand, so they may not either.) “It is a planet outside of our solar system. Why do you all personally want to know if there is life on other planets? I’ll write them up on the board.” (Record student answers on the board.) “Okay, so let’s read the first part of the article and then discuss it.”
Students read the first section of the article, up to the “Wobble” heading.
“Okay, so what did we learn about this exoplanet?”
(Write answers on the board making sure that the name, distance from earth, age, etc. is provided by students or prompted by me.)

That is a sample of how I might start the discussion of the article. I would then cover any other needed definitions of words or themes (wobble,  convection cells, eccentric orbits, etc.) and ask another question or two. I would then send them home to read the article and summarize the main points in a list.

Article December 14, 2007

The article to be used in conjunction with the lesson is from the magazine Astronomy . It called “Does Life Exist on This Exoplanet?” by Ray Villard.

This is the link for the article:

Here (The PDF of the article)
or
Here (In text only with an abstract. There is a link to the article here.)

A podcast of a “Think Aloud” for the beginning of the article is kindly hosted by SUNY Geneseo server space. It was very nice of them. It is here.

I would start my lesson with the students hearing the Think Aloud of the first paragraph of the article, be it in person or through the podcast.

My objectives for the lesson as are follows:
1. Students will understand what exoplanets are.
2. Students will be able to identify Epsilon Eridani and its’ significance to biology.
3. Students will develop critical thinking skills in order to answer questions related to the implications of the possibility of life on Epsilon Eridani

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