   |
||||||||||
|
||||||||||
TIPS:
Targeted Interventions for Proficiency in Science |
||||||||||
|
||||||||||
Earth Science
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Students know characteristics of the planets in our solar system. I/S I've known things about the planets since I was a kid. Mercury is tidally locked to the Sun, with one side always facing the Sun and the other side always in perpetual darkness. Thus, Mercury is both the hottest and the coldest planet in our solar system. And, Mercury is home to bulbous vegetable entities which would one day serve as hosts to the transferred minds of the Great Race of Yith. Venus? What a fascinating planet! It is a tropical, Carboniferous paradise teeming with exotic life in the various jungles, swamps and oceans. Though you have to watch out for dinosaurs and carnivorous plants (and sometimes lizardmen) the sentient inhabitants, whether aquatic or terrestrial, are generally peaceful and amiable in their interaction with humans. Mars is so intriguing. When the red planet entered an elonged period of drought, the inhabitants built an extensive system of canals, so large they were telescopically visible to observers on Earth (as are also the seasonal changes in the Martian polar ice caps - Figure 1). Martians, themselves, are a diverse group, some looking exactly like humans (if you disregard their vivid coloration), others very tall, yet humanoid, and others still quite alien in appearance, and intent on attacking Earth and killing humans.
The floating, city-sized lifeforms found in the thick, Jovian atmosphere immediately draw one's attention. Of course, the vast area of land present on Jupiter's surface is most appealing. Enough room there for Earth's population one hundredfold. Granted, Earthling's have to be genetically altered for locomotion on such a strong-gravity planet, but the atmosphere has such wealth in gaseous resources it is worth it. And you cannot forget the lake from which the waters are able to bring inanimate objects to "life". When Micromégas first visited Saturn, he found intelligent beings over 6,000 feet tall, possessing 72 senses and living at least 15,000 years on the rocky, desolate surface of the planet. Then of course, are the swordsmen of Saturn, who live around the volcanic regions and fly atop pterodactyl-type creatures. Uranus is still the only know location in the universe from which the mineral taranium can be mined. Neptune, an inhabited world, contains vast regions of sea as well as of glaciers. And Pluto, so recently ignominiously demoted from planetary status, is an icy world upon which was found evidence revealing our solar system to be a failed alien engineering project. My early "knowledge" of the planets of our solar system came from extensive research - in the forms of total immersion both in science fiction literature and in science fiction movies and television shows. As invested as I was with the childhood view of my planets, that excitement paled in comparison to the awe I felt when viewing images from the multitude of planetary orbiters and landers humanity sent out to explore the solar system, and in reading the analyses of the collected data.
Mercury was visited by Mariner 10 from 1974-1975, which revealed a heavily cratered surface, similar to Earth's moon as well as steep cliffs as tall as 3km (Figure 2).
Geological analyses of the photos sent back by Mariner 10 suggest that Mercury's crust solidified completely before its core solidified, and as the core solidified from molten iron to solid iron, it shrunk, which caused Mercury's crust to inwardly contract, leading to compressional forces and reverse faulting (Figure 3).
Just in January of 2008, a new probe, Messenger, flew by Mercury and gathered even more data about the planet. Messenger also flew by Venus (2007), and by 2012 will establish an orbit around Mercury. Messenger took a photo from the closest approach ever (200 km above the surface) as seen in Figure 4.
The website Views of the Solar System provides a Quicktime movie (in two parts) describing the formation and early history of Mercury. The links are as follows: http://www.solarviews.com/raw/merc/merc1.mov and, http://www.solarviews.com/raw/merc/merc2.mov. The above information about Mercury is a compilation of data from the Nine Planets website (http://nineplanets.org/mercury.html) and the Windows to the Universe website (http://www.windows.ucar.edu/tour/link=/mercury/mercury.html).
Venus is so hot that its oceans were long ago evaporated and boiled away. With no ocean water in which to dissolve appreciable amounts of carbon dioxide, atmospheric carbon dioxide rose and the greenhouse effect was compounded past the point of no return (a phenomenon referred to as a run-away greenhouse effect). Surface temperatures on Venus are hot enough to melt lead (melting point around 327°C), and there are over 90 Earth atmospheres of pressure at the surface, so it is clear that if Venus is Earth's twin, it would be the "evil twin". Various space probes have explored Venus. Mariner 2, in 1962, was the first successful probe to fly by Venus. It revealed a very hot, cloud-covered planet with a carbon dioxide atmosphere. Venera 7 (1970), launched by the Soviets, was the first probe to return data from the surface of another planet. Venera 9 (1975) made a soft landing on Venus and sent back remarkable pictures of the surface (Figure 6).
Even better were the color images sent back in 1982 by Venera 13, which had a color TV camera onboard (Figure 7).
In 1978, Pioneer Venus (an orbiter with four atmospheric probes) made the first high-quality map of Venus' surface (Figure 8).
Magellan, launched in 1989, mapped 98% of the surface of Venus at better than 300 meter resolution. Gravimetric data was obtained for 95 percent of Venus. The images returned from Magellan revealed a wealth of information about the external and internal geology of the planet. The totally random distribution of craters on Venus' surface suggests a uniform age for the surface (about 800 million years old). This is unusual, and may indicate Venus was completely resurfaced by intense, global volcanic activity. This has fueled a debate over whether Venus has a thin lithosphere or a thick lithosphere. The debate has not been resolved. Magellan revealed craters with unusual, spider-like appearance, including one which resembles a tick (Figure 9).
Other unusual features were exceptionally flat volcanoes, referred to as "pancake" volcanoes (Figure 10).
Detailed, 3-D images of the surface topography were compiled, revealing steep cliffs and deep canyons (Figure 11).
Venus Express arrived at Venus in 2006. It was launched by the European Space Agency (ESA) with the intent of studying Venus even more intensely. Data gathered from Venus Express suggest that contrary to the popular theory of Venus being "dead" geologically, it might actually be geologically active, having from a few hot spots to many active volcanoes. Venus Express has detected gaseous markers in the lower layers of the atmosphere and variations in its temperature which may be indicative of volcanic activity. Figure 12 is an artist's rendition of how a Venusian volcano might appear.
Figure 13 is intended as an overarching image to show the topography on Venus as a whole. It is a mosaic of photos taken from Magellan. The website Views of the Solar System provides a Quicktime movie which nicely follows Magellan's exploration of Venus. The links is as follows: http://www.solarviews.com/raw/venus/magellan.mov.
The above information about Venus is a compilation of data from compilation of data from the Nine Planets website (http://nineplanets.org/venus.html) and the Windows to the Universe website (http://www.windows.ucar.edu/tour/link=/venus/venus.html).
The above information about Earth is a compilation of data from the Nine Planets website (http://nineplanets.org/earth.html ) and the Windows to the Universe website (http://www.windows.ucar.edu/tour/link=/earth/earth.html).
The seasonal changes are associated with violent winds and dust storms as huge volumes of carbon dioxide gas are added to the atmosphere. The dust storms are global in coverage, as photographed in 2001 by the Mars Global Surveyor and depicted in Figure 16.
Temperatures from -133°C to 27°C have been recorded from the Martian surface. Due to the thin atmosphere, that warm reading of 27°C exists on the dayside during the summer, and is found only within a few centimeters of the surface. Regarding the atmosphere, it made up of over 95% carbon dioxide, with small concentrations of nitrogen and argon. Oxygen is found as 0.13% of the atmosphere of Mars. The average surface pressure of Mars is around 7 millibars (less than 1% of Earth's surface pressure). We have sent many space probes to Mars over the years, starting with the Mariner 4 fly by in 1965 which gave us our first close-up pictures of the surface of Mars (Figure 17). Mariner 9, in 1971, was first to achieve orbit around Mars. Evidence of huge volcanoes, deep, long canyons, and surface water flows were provided by the images Mariner 9 sent back to Earth.
Later that same year, the Soviets orbited Mars 2 about the planet, but crashed the lander as a result of too steep a descent. Just in time for the 1976 United States bicentennial, Viking 1 and Viking 2 successfully landed on the surface of Mars. Both searched for life in the form of Martian microorganisms. The tests revealed unusual chemical activity, but were not conclusive as to the presence or absence of life. The seismometer on Viking 2 recorded a single marsquake. And, both craft sent back detailed color panoramic landscape images. The photos Viking 1(Figure 18) and Viking 2 took revealed Mars to have a crust made of reddish rock and sand, and showed a pink sky from sunlight reflected off red-colored dust in the atmosphere (when dust is largely absent, the sky is blue).
The Mars Pathfinder (with rover Sojourner, 1997) and Mars Expedition (with rovers Spirit and Opportunity, 2004) landed on and roamed across the Martian surface. These rovers were able explore regions of Mars far from the sites upon which their landers settled (Figures 19 and 20).
The rover Spirit captured video of a large dust devil traversing the Martian surface (Figure 21). Click on the weblink to view the actual video of the dust devil.
Three Mars orbiters (NASA's Mars Global Surveyor and Mars
Odyssey, as well as ESA's Mars Express) have also
provided valuable data and imagery during the early to mid 2000s.
The following link, (
http://www.nasa.gov/externalflash Enormous geological features have been found on Mars. Olympus Mons, though inactive, is the solar system's largest volcano (27 km tall and over 600 km wide, Figure 22). There are no active volcanoes on Mars.
Valles Marineris dwarfs Earth's Grand Canyon. This Mars canyon is over 4000 km in length and ranges to 200 km in width and 7 km in depth (Figures 23 and 24).
Many images of the Martian surface show evidence of surface erosion. The various fluvial features tell us Mars once had great quantities of flowing water (Figures 25 and 26).
In 2005, surprising images were obtained from Mars Express. The photos were taken near the Martian equator, and show what appears to be a dust-covered, frozen sea. Evidence suggests that it was liquid as few as 5 million years ago. Scientists have compared the plates observed in Figure 27 with photos of ice blocks off the coast of Antarctica, and believe they formed by the same process.
Images of various regions of Mars show the planet has been glaciated in the past, and indeed, may still be undergoing active glaciation. Figure 28 is of Deuteronilus Mensae, and displays typical steep-sided features associated with glaciation. A more recent, close-up image ( Figure 29) shows what is believed to be an active glacier in this same region.
Mars has two tiny, irregularly-shaped moons which likely were captured from the asteroid belt. Phobos is closest to Mars, and is around 25 km wide; it orbits Mars once every 7 hours. Deimos is furthest from Mars, is about 13 km across, and takes around 31 hours to make one orbit about Mars (Figure 30).
On an aside, some people believe Viking took images, on Mars, of what appear to be artificial structures created by intelligent life (Figure 31). The face and pyramids of Mars, though intriguing, are artifacts of erosion.
The above information about Mars is a compilation of data from the Nine Planets website (http://nineplanets.org/mars.html) and the Windows to the Universe website (http://www.windows.ucar.edu/tour/link=/mars/mars.html).
What we see of the planet is its extraordinarily thick atmosphere made of striped bands of hydrogen gas, methane, ammonia, carbon dioxide and water. The bands are classified as zones if they are lighter-colored and belts if they are darker-colored. Minor variations in temperature and chemical composition are believed to be responsible for the differences in color of the bands. It has been observed that the winds in the bands blow at speeds of as fast as or greater than 540 km/hr. Winds in adjacent bands blow in opposite directions, as depicted in this Quicktime movie: http://www.solarviews.com/raw/jup/vjupitr2.mov. Data from atmospheric probes indicate the atmospheric turbulence extends thousands of kilometers towards Jupiter's interior, thus suggesting the turbulence and winds are driven by internal heat as opposed to insolation (heating from the sun) of the surface atmosphere. Figure 33 shows the banded atmosphere of Jupiter.
The Great Red Spot of Jupiter (Figure 34) is a cyclonic storm (like a hurricane). It is wide enough that 2½ Earths could fit across. The Great Red Spot is telescopically visible from Earth, and has been observed by astronomers for over 300 years. Scientists are uncertain as to how this same storm could have lasted continuously for such a long time.
Jupiter has thin, dark rings (Figure 35), composed of small particles of rocky material. It appears that, unlike Saturn's rings, they contain no ice.
Jupiter has over 60 known satellites, but the most famous are the Galilean moons (Figure 36). Io is the most volcanically active object in our solar system, spewing forth sulfurous lava from its many active volcanoes. It has a thin atmosphere of oxygen, sulfur and sulfur dioxide. Europa has surface composed of a 100 km thick layer of water ice. There might be a 50 km deep ocean of liquid water beneath the frozen layer. Imagery suggests possible tectonic activity. There appears to be a thin atmosphere with water vapor and oxygen present. Ganymede is the largest moon in the solar system (and is bigger than planet Mercury). It has a thick crust of water ice, and possibly slush beneath this, but no apparent liquid water. A very thin hydrogen atmosphere has been detected. Callisto has a crust made of ice and rock. Possibly, a very saline liquid ocean exists beneath the frozen crust. A thin atmosphere of hydrogen, oxygen and carbon dioxide is present.
Jupiter has been visited by a few space probes. Pioneer 10 was first to flyby Jupiter in 1973, followed by Pioneer 11 in 1974. The Pioneer probes were designed to test the ability of spacecraft to survive passage thru the asteroid belt (an easy accomplishment) and Jupiter's magnetosphere (the ions of which nearly fried the electronics on the spacecraft). Both Pioneers are heading into interstellar space (the first Earth vessels to do so). As such, each carries a gold-anodized plaque with information about their origin (Figure 37) in the event either craft is someday discovered by extraterrestrial intelligence interested in contacting us.
Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 were launched in 1977. These two probes extended our knowledge of Jupiter (as well as Saturn, Uranus and Neptune) and the rings and satellites of those planets. They revealed Jupiter to have complicated atmospheric dynamics, with lightning and aurorae. Ulysses, a product of collaboration between the ESA and NASA, was launched in 1990, first visiting Jupiter, then moving into a solar orbit ranging from 1.5 AU to 5.2 AU from the sun (it was designed as a long-range solar studies spacecraft). Ulysses detected streams of dust particles flowing from Jupiter. These dust streams are made of grains no larger than smoke particles, and are believed to originate in volcanoes of Io. The particles are propelled outward by Jupiter's magnetic field. The Galileo Jupiter orbiter and atmospheric probe made extensive surveys of Jupiter's moons and of Jupiter's atmosphere. In 2003, Galileo was deliberately crashed into Jupiter to prevent any possibility that it might eventually crash into Europa. Conditions on Europa might favor development of life, and scientists wanted to avoid contamination of such life that might be there. The above information about Jupiter is a compilation of data from the Nine Planets website (http://nineplanets.org/jupiter.html) and the Windows to the Universe website (http://www.windows.ucar.edu/tour/link=/jupiter/jupiter.html).
Pioneer 11, Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 visited Saturn after each completed their fly bys of Jupiter. These spacecraft gave us the first detailed, clear images of Saturn’s banded atmosphere and of its rings. They also provided images of Saturn’s moons. The most detailed imagery has come from Cassini, a craft launched in 1997 as a joint venture between the ESA and NASA. Cassini, consisting of an orbiter and a probe, arrived at Saturn in 2004, and sent back very sharp images of Saturn and its rings (Figure 39).
High resolution observations of Saturn's radio emissions have recently been released by NASA. These observations were made with the radio and plasma wave instrument aboard the Cassini spacecraft. To listen to the "sounds of Saturn" click on this link: http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/multimedia/images/saturn/audio/pia07966-112203.wav. Of Saturn's many moons (around 60), Titan is of particular interest to scientists because it is one of the few moons with an appreciable atmosphere. Titan is surrounded by a thick, smog-like haze which may be very similar to the atmosphere of primordial Earth more than 3.8 billion years ago. Cassini has revealed oceans of hydrocarbons on Titan, and precipitation of hydrocarbons from the atmosphere. It appears the liquid hydrocarbons on the surface are primarily ethane and methane. Read the recent NASA release (February 13, 2008) to learn more about the organic matter on Titan ( http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/news/press-release-details.cfm?newsID=814). Mimas, resembling the Death Star from Star Wars due to its enormous crater, and Iapetus, with its one-of-a-kind equatorial ridge, are two more of Saturn's interesting moons (Figure 40).
The above information about Saturn is a compilation of data from the Nine Planets website ( http://nineplanets.org/saturn.html) and the Windows to the Universe website /http://www.windows.ucar.edu/tour/link=/saturn/saturn.html).
Uranus has at least 27 moons. Its moon, Miranda, is so oddly-shaped that we believe it was smashed into pieces after colliding with another moon, after which gravity reassembled the fragments in a hodge-podge fashion (Figure 42).
The above information about Uranus is a compilation of data from the Nine Planets website ( http://nineplanets.org/uranus.html) and the Windows to the Universe website http://www.windows.ucar.edu/tour/link=/uranus/uranus.html).
Like Jupiter and Saturn, Neptune radiates more heat energy than it receives from the sun, most probably due to gravitational compression. Neptune has dark rings encircling the planet. Earth-based observations suggested the rings were incomplete, just clumps of matter in arcs. Voyager 2, the only spacecraft to visit Neptune, revealed the rings are complete, and are twisted about each other in places (Figure 44).
Neptune has 13 known moons. Its largest, Triton (Figure 45), has a very thin atmosphere composed mostly of nitrogen and a trace of methane. At -235°C, Triton is as cold as, if not colder than, Pluto. At such cold temperatures methane, nitrogen and carbon dioxide are all frozen solid. Voyager 2 captured images on Triton of ice volcanoes (or are they geysers?). On one image, a plume (presumably of liquid nitrogen, dust and methane) is show rising 8 km above the surface. The Quicktime video linked to at this website (http://www.solarviews.com/raw/nep/geyser.mov ) shows animation of such a volcano/geyser. Besides Earth, only Triton, Io and Venus have been determined to be volcanically active at the present time. Triton is also different in that it has a retrograde revolution about Neptune.
The above information about Neptune is a compilation of data from the Nine Planets website ( http://nineplanets.org/neptune.html) and the Windows to the Universe website http://www.windows.ucar.edu/tour/link=/neptune/neptune.html).
Figure 47 is a graphic which compares the sizes of Pluto, Ceres and Eris to Mars, Earth and the Moon (Luna). Additionally, the larger moons of these dwarf planets are depicted.
Pluto is 5,913,520,000 km (39.5 AU) from the Sun (on average, as its orbit is highly eccentric). Pluto has a diameter of 2274 km, a mass of 1.27 x 1022 kg and a density of 2.063 g/cm3. Pluto is believed to have retrograde rotation, with its day equivalent to 6.387 Earth days. It takes Pluto 248 Earth years to make one complete revolution about the sun. Surface temperatures on Pluto are around -235°C. Pluto was discovered in 1930 by Clyde Tombaugh. Tombaugh was searching for a planet he believed to be perturbing Neptune's orbit. His discovery of Pluto was fortuitous, as Pluto was too small to have actually caused such a disruption to the orbit of Neptune. Pluto has three moons, Charon, Nix and Hydra (Figure 48). Charon is about half the size of Pluto. As of yet, no spacecraft have visited Pluto, but New Horizons, launched in 2006 should reach Pluto in 2015. Please visit the following websites for additional information about Ceres ( http://www.windows.ucar.edu/tour/link=/asteroids/ceres.html) and Eris ( http://www.windows.ucar.edu/tour/link=/our_solar_system/dwarf_planets/eris.html).
The above information about NeptPluto une is a compilation of data from the Nine Planets website ( http://nineplanets.org/pluto.html) and the Windows to the Universe website http://www.windows.ucar.edu/tour/link=/pluto/neptune.html). Content Benchmark E.8.B.3 Students know characteristics of the planets in our solar system. I/S Common misconceptions associated with this benchmark 1. Students incorrectly believe that all planets have an appreciable atmosphere. Students have been taught about Earth's atmosphere since they were in elementary school. It is a natural extension for them to believe that all planets are capable of developing an encompassing envelope of atmosphere. It is not immediately apparent to students that the strength of the planet's gravitational field is critical in its ability to hold onto an atmosphere. Misconception reference is located at
http://www.physics.umaine.edu/ncomins/planets.htm For further
explanation about this topic, please visit the following websites:
http://physics.fortlewis.edu/Astronomy/astronomy% 2. Students have a mistaken belief that all planets have a rotational axis tilt similar to that of Earth, and that the rotational axes of all planets are perpendicular to the plane of their orbit. Students understand that Earth rotates about an axis (which causes day and night). Many students believe this axis to be perpendicular to Earth's plane of the ecliptic (orbital plane) and do not realize Earth's axis is actually tilted almost 23.5° from perpendicular. Mercury's axis actually is perpendicular to its orbital plane. At 178° from perpendicular, Venus' axis has been flipped almost completely from top to bottom. Mars, at 25°, has an axis tilt close to Earth's. Jupiter has a tilt of 3.1° and Saturn has a tilt of 26.7°. Uranus, with a tilt of 98°, has an axis which lies virtually within its orbital plane. Neptune's axis it tilted 29.5° from perpendicular, and Pluto, with a tilt of 118° has its axis several degrees below its orbital plane (Figure 49) Misconception reference is located at http://www.physics.umaine.edu/ncomins/planets.htm
Further information about tilts of axes of rotation of the planets
in our solar system can be found by visiting the following website
(http://www.windows.ucar.edu/tour/link=/ou
Students relate the other planets to the one upon which we live, Earth. It makes sense to them that the other planets would also be composed of the same rocky exterior and iron-rich core of which they have learned in Earth Science classes. Since they believe all planets to have similar compositions, it follows that the planets should have similar densities. In reality, the different terrestrial (Earth-like) planets do have rocky exteriors and metal interiors, but the chemical composition of the crusts and cores of those worlds (Mercury, Venus and Mars) are neither identical to those of Earth, nor do they exist in the same proportions. The extraterrestrial planets (also called the gas giants) have far greater concentrations of light elements comprising the bulk of their mass. Misconception reference is located at http://www.physics.umaine.edu/ncomins/planets.htm
To better understand this topic, please visit the following websites:
http://www.adlerplanetarium.org/cyberspace/planets/density.html,
Misconception reference is located at http://www.physics.umaine.edu/ncomins/planets.htm
To learn more regarding the direction of rotation of planets about their axes, visit the following websites:
http://www.aerospaceweb.org/question/astronomy/q0247.shtml,
Students walk on the surface of Earth. Even when they view images of Earth from space in which clouds are visible, it does not appear to them that the atmosphere adds appreciably to the diameter of the planet. So, when they see the images of the various planets, they assume the seemingly solid disk they are viewing is the solid surface of the planet. It is true that the atmospheres of terrestrial planets are thin compared to the diameter of the planets, but for the Jovian (Jupiter-like) worlds (a.k.a. gas giants), there exists thick, layered atmospheres, often underlain by very deep, global oceans of liquid metallic hydrogen. A solid surface, if it exists at all on those worlds, lies at the core of the planet. Misconception reference is located at http://www.physics.umaine.edu/ncomins/planets.htm
More information about the surfaces of the planets in our solar systems can be found at the following websites:
http://www.astronomy.org/astronomy-survival/miscon6.html,
Our personal experience tells us that a year on a planet (one revolution) lasts far longer than a day (one rotation). It seems almost inconceivable that it could take longer for a planet to complete one rotation than it takes for it to complete one revolution. But, there is one planet, Venus, which does the inconceivable. A day on Venus lasts 243 Earth days while a year on Venus lasts just 226 Earth days. Misconception reference is located at http://www.physics.umaine.edu/ncomins/planets.htm For information on the periods of rotational and periods of revolution of all the planets, visit the following website: http://pds.jpl.nasa.gov/planets/special/planets.htm and individually click on the planets to view the planet profiles.
Students know Mercury is the closest planet to the sun. They surmise that as Mercury rotates, heat from the sun is absorbed and stored in the crust. They suspect Mercury will radiate some of this heat during its nighttime, but imagine overall, the planet has a relatively uniform very hot temperature. Due to Mercury's proximity to the Sun, it seems clear Mercury must be the hottest planet. The fatal flaw in the reasoning is failure to account for Mercury's almost imperceptible atmosphere and lack of realizing Mercury has a slow rotation (59 Earth days for one Mercury day). Without an atmosphere, the night side of Mercury, during its very lengthy night, radiates virtually all the heat energy which was absorbed back into space. Far from a uniform temperature, Mercury is very hot on the day side and very cold on the night side. And, even though Mercury is closer to the sun, Venus has a higher surface temperature due to its thick atmosphere and super-greenhouse effect. Misconception reference is located at
http://www.brookscole.com/astronomy_d/templates/student_ Content Benchmark E.8.B.3 Students know characteristics of the planets in our solar system. I/S 1st Item Specification: Describe general planetary motions. Depth of Knowledge Level 1
(From http://www.solarviews.com/raw/misc/obliquity.jpg)
Depth of Knowledge Level 1
Depth of Knowledge Level 1
1. Use the following table and information to answer the questions below.
(Derived from http://nineplanets.org) Using graph paper, construct a scale model depicting the distance of each planet from the Sun. Next to each planet on this model, indicate its distance, period of rotation and period of revolution. Include a key indicating the units and scale used for distance. Content Benchmark E.8.B.3 Students know characteristics of the planets in our solar system. I/S Answers to Sample Test Questions
Content Benchmark E.8.B.3 Students know characteristics of the planets in our solar system. I/S Intervention Strategies and Resources The following is a list of intervention strategies and resources that will facilitate student understanding of this benchmark. 1. Nine Planets and Windows to the Universe - Our Solar System These two websites are packed with information and multimedia regarding objects in our solar system. Clicking on the various links to each planet provides valuable information, as well as links to subcategories about the planets (atmospheres, comparison of exterior and interior, etc.). Nine Planets is accessed at http://nineplanets.org/ .
Windows to the Universe - Our Solar System is located
at
http://www.windows.ucar.edu/tour/link 2. Journey Through the Solar System There are a wide variety of lessons appropriate for middle school students at this website. Students have the opportunity to create various models of the solar system, and to engage in creative writing. To access these lesson plans visit
http://idahoptv.org/ntti/nttilessons/lessons2000/lau.html 3. Gander Academy's Solar System Theme Page This site is flush with activities appropriate for middle school science students. There are many lessons, complete with black line masters, covering each of the planets. There are also links to several websites for each planet which could be utilized in student research. To access these activities visit
http://www.stemnet.nf.ca/CITE/solar_system.htm 4. NASA Very up-to-date information on the planets (as well as other solar bodies) is found on this page. The latest images from the various planetary spacecraft (fly bys, orbiters and landers) are available to be viewed. To access this information, visit:
http://www.nasa.gov/topics/solarsystem/index.html This is an excellent site to answer questions your students may have about the planets. There are dozens of commonly asked questions, each linked to a detailed answer. To access this information, visit
http://www.astro.uu.nl/~strous/AA/en/antwoorden/planeten.html 6. Exploring Planets in the Classroom To access these lessons, visit
http://www.spacegrant.hawaii.edu/class_acts/
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
