IS THERE LIFE ON OTHER PLANETS? AYŞENUR ÇINAR -19731053 GRADE: High School 10th ,11th and 12th grade (B1 and above) LESSON: TIME ALLOCATION: English 8 hours Students will be able to do research to enrich their persuasive skills. Students will be able to solve the problems with the four steps of critical thinking : imagining ,inquiring ,doing, reflecting. LEARNING OBJECTIVES: Students will be able to find different and unique ways to support their idea. Students will learn how to create a good scientific argument in the context of space. They will continuously encounter questions that ask them to make a claim, explain their answer, rate their certainty with their answer, and explain that rating. This unit has a critical thinking and creativity focus: check accuracy CREATIVITY and CRITICAL THINKING : strengths and weaknesses of evidence uncertainty and reflect on own position produce meaningful and novel outputs METHODS USED: Brain-storming Socratic discussion Role – play Communicative approach methods Group work ,Peer assessment KWL chart LESSON PERIOD 1 (40 minutes) Warm- up (Duration 5-10 minutes) The teacher hands in the KWL chart to each student. The teacher writes/showes the big quesiton or idea of the lesson and starts a discussion. Is there life in space? Teacher and Student Role (Duration 10-15 minutes) The teacher presents a video about some criterias to tell whether or not there is life on a planet.This video draw stundents’attention to the topic and they will have a deeper understanding about the life on other planets. Students will watch https://www.pbslearningmedia.org/asset/nsn09_vid_detectlife/ video and take notes, then the teacher writes the question below as a follow-up brain -storming activity on board and encourages students to answer it. . Creativity and Critical thinking The students will combine the information from the video with their own ideas and find a solution. Is it possible that life forms can be found on planets with very different atmospheric compositions than that of Earth? Explain. Teacher and Student Role (15-20 minutes) Students read the text about NASA’s Kepler mission and discuss the quesitons with the group of four. The teacher hands in two questions about the text to each group and give them some time to think and reflect. Creativity and Critical thinking Students are expected to address the reasons of their answers clearly and support their answers with their group members. Do you think the Kepler mission will find life on other planets? Why do you think NASA wants to find habitable planets? Reading Comprehension How many planets are there in our galaxy? That’s a tricky question to answer. Are there other planets that support life? That’s exactly what the Kepler mission hopes to discover. NASA launched the Kepler space telescope, designed to find habitable planets, in 2009. So far it has discovered five new Earth-sized planets beyond our solar system. These planets are hotter than the Earth – much too hot for life as we know it. The Kepler team predict that they will need at least three years (and possibly longer) to find an Earth-like planet. The simplest requirement for a planet to have life (carbon-based life like on Earth) is for there to be liquid water (not frozen or gas) so the distance from the planet’s sun and therefore temperature are important. There also needs to be the correct amount of air. If a planet is as small as Mars (half the size of Earth) its weak gravity means that it can’t hold on to air molecules. If a planet is Neptune sized (four times bigger than Earth) it has very strong gravity and too much air. So size matters too. The cost of the mission is approximately six hundred million dollars. It is scheduled to observe until 2013 but this could be extended. Will we be sad if we discover we are alone in our galaxy or happy if we find that we share it with other life forms? Glossary tricky – difficult at least three - three or more weak – the opposite of strong size – dimension, if a thing is big or small alone – with no other people LESSON PERIOD 2 (80 mins.) Teacher and student roles The teacher ask students why they think that NASA (an imaginary NASA!) has chosen the items in Worksheet 1 to represent Earth for the new planet. In pairs thave students add more items to the list. Put pairs in groups of 4 and ask them to justify their choices. Monitor and give feedback to foster their critical thinking. Creativity and Critical thinking The students will imagine that the Kepler mission finds life on a distant planet. NASA wants to send some objects representing Earth to the new planet. They are expected to add more items to NASA’s list of objects on Worksheet 1 and share their answers. The lists will be shared with all classroom members and students will try to persuade their friends about the underlying reasons for chosing the items. Worksheet 1 Imagine that the Kepler mission finds life on a distant planet. NASA wants to send some objects representing Earth to the new planet. Add more items to NASA’s list of objects: an encyclopaedia a computer photographs of world leaders a bottle of sea water ……………………………………. …………………………………….. ……………………………………. …………………………………….. Teacher and Student Roles The teacher hands in a preparation worksheet for listening. Then, makes students listen to a discussion about life on Mars. They are welcome to take notes while listening. https://learnenglish.britishcouncil.org/skills/listening/intermediate-b1/a-student-discussion -Preparation: Students are expected to put the vocabulary into correct place. -Student Task 1 : Students are expected to identify/group the differences between the Earh and Mars into correct places. -Student Task 2 – Critical Writing Task: Students are expected to share their ideas about pros and cons of living on Mars. -Creative Writing Task: Students are expected to write a composition about their ideas on ‘Humans will live on Mars within 20 years. Do you agree or disagree with this statement? Listening and Writing Integrated Task Preparation Put the words into correct place. Have in common , similar, whereas , but, while ,both , to share Words and phrases to for talking about difference ……………………………………………………………………. Words and phrases for talking about the things that are the same …………………………………………………………………….. Task 1 is closer to the Sun * has a longer day * is colder * has more air is 50 per cent smaller * has more oxygen and nitrogen than carbon dioxide * has stronger gravity * used to have water EARTH MARS Task 2 A) What are the pros and cons on living on Mars and WHY? Please share your ideas. Life on MARS Pros Cons Writing Task Stephen Petranek indicates that humans will build a colony on Mars within 20 years on his TED talk speech. Do you agree or disagree with him ? Please write a persuasive composition to support your ideas. Try to use your imagination. LESSON PERIOD 3 (40 mins.) Teacher and Student Role The teacher can give some sample questions to maket hem understand the task. Try not to lead them with your sample questions and maket hem think and find unique questions. Monitor the students during the activity. Students will write three questions about extraterrestrial life in pairs and walk around the classroom and do an interview with their friends and note their answer to the extraterrestrial life survey. In the end , the students will give feedback to each other the most unique answers will be chosen. Write three questions about extraterrestrial life in the table.Please do not write Yes/ No questions and make your friends think. Do this in pairs. Each student must write the questions on his / her own paper. When you have finished, interview other students. Write down their answers. EXTRATERRESTRIAL LIFE SURVEY STUDENT 1 STUDENT 2 STUDENT 3 Q1 Q2 Q3 Now return to your original partner and share and talk about what you found out. Change partners often. • Make mini-presentations to other groups on your findings. Circle the most unique answer and share it with your instructor. Teacher and Student Role The teacher divides the classroom into four groups according to their interests or students complete the task individually. There are four role play categories : Aliens ,Black Holes, Zero Gravitiy, Colonizing Mars. The tasks should be given before the class so students can collect some data and do some rehearsal for their role. Role A – Aliens You think aliens are the best thing about space. Tell the others three reasons why. Tell them what is wrong with their things. Also, tell the others which are the least interesting of these (and why): black holes, zero gravity or colonizing Mars. Role B – Black Holes You think black holes are the best thing about space. Tell the others three reasons why. Tell them what is wrong with their things. Also, tell the others which are the least interesting of these (and why): aliens, zero gravity or colonizing Mars. Role C – Zero Gravity You think zero gravity is the best thing about space. Tell the others three reasons why. Tell them what is wrong with their things. Also, tell the others which are the least interesting of these (and why): black holes, aliens or colonizing Mars. Role D – Colonizing Mars You think colonizing Mars is the best thing about space. Tell the others three reasons why. Tell them what is wrong with their things. Also, tell the others which are the least interesting of these (and why): black holes, zero gravity or aliens. LESSON PERIOD 4 (40 minutes) Teacher and student role The tasks should be given before the class so students can collect some data to support their idea. The teacher can divide the classroom into two or make some different groups to discuss the topic. The classroom setting shoul be organized like a discussion programme on TV. Classroom discussion MORE MONEY Group A strongly believe we should spend more money to find aliens; Group B strongly believe we should wait for aliens to find us. Students will complete the third part of the KWL chart after the lesson period 4. Name/Surname : ____________________ Topic :_______________________________ K W What I already know about my topic. What I want to know about my topic. L What I have learned about my topic. LESSON PERIOD 5 ( 80 -120 minutes- student presentations) Students will present their performance task and teacher/classmates will give feedback to them. OECD(2019) critical thinking and creativity rublic will be used for assessment. Students may also assess themselves and their friends. The Performance task is presented in a detailed way below. Performance Task Goal : You are informed that the Earth won’t be a habitable planet within 10 years. Role: You need to find a habitable planet and find ways to take people there. Audience: You are a scientist. Try to use an accurate language and act like a one. Your instructor and your classmates are imaginary members from NASA. Scenerio / Situation: Your mission is to find a habitable planet. Because of Global Warming, the next generations won’t be able to survive on Earth. Product : You should create a poster of an imaginary planet and present it to your classmates. You can use some information from planets that have already been discovered. You can either create a poster or - Create a Powerpoint presentation Record video clip that informs students about your planet. Prepare a radio programme that discuss about your planet. (Please bring a visual of your planet, too.) Standards- expectations: - You should clearly show how your planet looks like. You should share your plan step by step to accomplish your mission within ten years. You should share the budget you need to use when you travel and build a new colony there. You should talk about the risks of the mission. You should clearly address the reasons of your planets’ being habitable and why it is superior to other planets. You should find something unique to about your planet. You should persuade your friends to live on your planet. Creativity and Crtical Thinking Rubric OECD 2019 CREATIVITY INQUIRING IMAGINING DOING REFLECTING Make connections to other concepts and knowledge from the same or from other disciplines STEPS 1-3 Generate and play with unusual and radical ideas 1-4 Produce, perform or envision a meaningful output that is personally novel 3-4 Reflect on the novelty of solution and of its possible consequences 1 CRITICAL THINKING Identify and question assumptions and generally accepted ideas or practices Consider several perspectives on a problem based on different assumptions Explain both strengths and limitations of a product, a solution or a theory justified on logical, ethical or aesthetic criteria Reflect on the chosen solution/position relative to possible alternatives STEPS 1-2 1-2 1-3 1-2 References https://breakingnewsenglish.com/2002/200217-extraterrestrial-life.pdf https://learnenglish.britishcouncil.org/skills/listening/intermediate-b1/a-student-discussion https://concord.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/projects/has/life-in-space-tg.pdf http://kepler.nasa.gov/ https://www.pbslearningmedia.org/asset/nsn09_vid_detectlife/ https://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/sites/teacheng/files/Life_on_other_planets_Teacher_s_notes.pdf https://www.nationalgeographic.org/lesson/there-life-space/ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t9c7aheZxls http://www.oecd.org/education/fostering-students-creativity-and-critical-thinking-62212c37-en.htm https://www.pbslearningmedia.org/asset/nsn09_vid_detectlife/ http://higheredu-sci.beun.edu.tr/pdf/pdf_HIG_1803.pdf https://quizlet.com/80386718/lecture-9-habitable-planets-flash-cards/
