“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.
