Project Title: Exploring New Worlds
Mission:
Should we be finding a new home in outer space?
Culminating / Take Action Project
Create a time capsule, including a letter, to educate people in the future about some of the conditions humans would need to survive on a different planet.
What Kids Learn
In this project, students consider whether we should move to a different planet given future world challenges. To explore this topic, students will learn about some of the conditions that make Earth habitable. Then, they will consider whether we can find another planet with similar conditions. Students learn about our great universe with an emphasis on the relationship between the Earth and the Sun. Students learn about the distance between objects in the universe and discover that the Sun appears bigger and brighter than other stars because it is closer to Earth. Then, students consider some of the ways energy from the Sun supports life on Earth while learning about photosynthesis. Next, students use various texts, diagrams, images, and models to investigate Earth’s tilt, rotation, and orbit and discover how these movements make life on our planet possible. Finally, students learn about gravity and how this invisible force keeps planets in orbit around the Sun and objects on Earth grounded.
Overview
Life Habit Focus: Empathy: How can we use empathy to help others cope with changes they are experiencing?
Subject: Physical science, earth and life science, ELA
Grade: 3-5
Topic: Climate change, outer space, energy from the sun, photosynthesis, gravity.
Project preview
Project Materials
Project Module
Student Notebook
Teacher's Guide
Materials List
Virtual Field Trips
One of our goals is to help kids connect what they are learning in our projects to the real world beyond the classroom. To do that, we’ve partnered with experts to help students learn from and virtually visit with experts from around the world. The “Exploring New Worlds” project partners with:
Astronomer
Ekta Patel
In this module, students meet Ekta Patel, an astronomer who studies galaxies. Ekta will teach students about the work of astronomers, what a light year is, why the Sun appears larger than other stars, and the importance of orbits in our solar system.
Conservator
Chelsea Blake
In their Take Action Project, students meet conservator Chelsea Blake. Chelsea teaches students how to make a time capsule that sends a message to people in the future. Chelsea teaches students how to determine a clear message, select artifacts to effectively communicate that message, and write a letter to further explain their message.
Aligned Standards
Common Core Reading (CCSS):
- Informational/Nonfiction Standards R.I. 1-5, 7, 9, 10 for grades 3-5
- Writing Standards W.2-10 for grades 3-5
- Listening and Speaking Standards SL. 1-6 for grades 3-5
NGSS:
Performance Expectations (PE):
- 3-PS2-2: Make observations and/or measurements of an object’s motion to provide evidence that a pattern can be used to predict future motion.Â
- 5-ESS1-1: Support an argument that differences in the apparent brightness of the Sun compared to other stars is due to their relative distances from the Earth.Â
- 5-ESS1-2 Represent data in graphical displays to reveal patterns of daily changes in length and direction of shadows, day and night, and the seasonal appearance of some stars in the night sky.Â
- 5-LS1-1 Support an argument that plants get the materials they need for growth chiefly from air and water.
Science and Engineering Practices (SEP):Â
- Using Mathematics and Computational Thinking
- Planning and Carrying Out Investigations
- Analyzing and Interpreting Data
- Engaging in Argument from Evidence
- Developing and Using Models
Disciplinary Core Ideas (DCI):
- 3-PS2-2: The patterns of an object’s motion in various situations can be observed and measured; when that past motion exhibits a regular pattern, future motion can be predicted from it.
- 5-ESS3-1: Human activities in agriculture, industry, and everyday life have had major effects on the land, vegetation, streams, ocean, air, and even outer space. But individuals and communities are doing things to help protect Earth’s resources and environments.Â
- 5-ESS1-1: The Sun is a star that appears larger and brighter than other stars because it is closer. Stars range greatly in their distance from Earth.
- 5-ESS1-2: The orbits of Earth around the Sun and of the Moon around Earth, together with the rotation of Earth about an axis between its North and South poles, cause observable patterns. These include day and night; daily changes in the length and direction of shadows; and different positions of the Sun, Moon, and stars at different times of the day, month, and year.
- 5-PS2-1: The gravitational force of Earth acting on an object near Earth’s surface pulls that object toward the planet’s center.
- 5-PS3-1: The energy released [from] food was once energy from the Sun that was captured by plants in the chemical process that forms plant matter (from air and water).
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