SPACE PROBE

ARTIFACT

 

Students will design a space probe capable of determining weather a planet in a new star system is capable of sustaining life. Students will have to decide what three sensors they wish to put on their probe to make it the most efficient probe in terms of determing life and cost efficiency. Students will have to use the knowledge they obtained throughout this unit in order to complete this project. Once studnets have chosen the sensors they want to put on their probe, they will have to make some kind of presentation to convince us why their's is the best. Students will have to defend their choice of sensors by saying why that sensor is better than one that they did not pick. This will show us what students think is necessary in order to have a lide sustaining planet. The students need to demonstrate their knowledge of why Earth is able to sustain life in order to make this artifact.

 

Strong Example: A group of students make a powerpoint of their probe. In it they have a sketch of what their probe could possibly look like. The probe is labeled with the three sensors that they have chosen. The first slide explains why they chose radar and how they intend to use the information that it could gather from a planet in order to determine the likeness to Earth. The next slide explains why their probe has infared sensors and explains how they intend to use that information gathered from those sensors. Similarily the third slide explains why they chose the climate sounder. Also in their powerpoint is the total estimated cost of the probe and why that is the most efficient way to determine life on a planet.

 

Weak Example: A group of students also make a powerpoint of their probe. The students have a list of the three sensors that they picked, and explain that they chose the three cheapest sensors in order to save money because if a planet has those three qualities then you can build a new probe with the money you saved to determine the rest of the characterisitcs to see if that planet has the possibility to sustain life. 

 

 

RUBRIC

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

PERFORMANCE TASKS

 

A performance task is any learning activity or assessment that asks students to perform to demonstrate their knowledge, understanding and proficiency. Performance tasks yield a tangible product and/or performance that serve as evidence of learning. According to reform documents, results from performance assessment tasks give teachers immediate feedback about students’ mathematical strengths and weaknesses (NCTM 1995). So to get this "feedback", we included a performance task in our unit:

 

1. Orbiting the Earth Satellites normally orbits the Earth in an elliptical orbit, with the center of the Earth being one focal point of the orbit. The point where the satellite is nearest the Earth is the perigee and the point at which it is farthest from the Earth is the apogee. Suppose a satellite is 620 km from the Earth’s surface at its perigee and 1200 km from the Earth’s surface at its apogee. Determine the equation for the orbit of the satellite. Include a diagram with your solution. (Note that the Earth has a radius of about 6.34x10  km.)

 

 

 

FORMATIVE ASSESSMENTS

 

Formative assessments support learning during the unit. They check for understanding as we progress through our lessons and they guide us in decision making about future instruction. Not only do they help us, the teachers, but they provide feedback to students as well, so they can improve the performance. What we chose to do for our formative assessments in this unit are milestones, which are one of the most effective ways that students can stay up to date with their project. Milestones are tools used in project management to mark specific points along a project timeline. Below are the three milestones that will be assigned in this unit.

 

Milestone 1:                                     Milestone 2:                            Milestone 3:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We will do a formative assessment on the Sun's role lesson:

 

Overview of the Assessment

This will also be an exit ticket for the students given to them on the last day of the lesson over the Sun. Students will be given a quiz that once completed is their ticket out the door. There will be two questions on each ticket and students will have to answer both.

 

Questions:

1. How does the Sun affect our planet?

2. What is the size of the sun compared to the moon and the earth?

 

Target Objectives

This assessment target the following objectives:

• Identify the Sun’s role in our solar system.

• Explain the distance of the Sun from the Earth

• Compare the Sun’s size to that of the Moon and the Earth

• Determine an ideal distance of their Sun in their model solar system (final project).

 

Alignment with Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS)

This lesson addresses the following TEKS:

• (6)  Science concepts. The student knows our place in space. The student is expected to:

(A)  compare and contrast the scale, size, and distance of the Sun, Earth, and Moon system through the use of data and modeling;

• (10)  Science concepts. The student knows the role of the Sun as the star in our solar system.

 

 

We will also have a formative assessment over ellipses and Keplar's Law:

 

Overview of the Assessment

We will have a team poll for students to take so the students will be able to discuss the problem. We will have an ellipsis problem for the students to solve as a group and then we will have our students share with the class.

 

Questions

• 1.)What happens to the ellipse when the eccentricity becomes zero?

  2.) What happens to the ellipse when the eccentricity becomes one?

 

Target Objectives

• This assessment target the following objectives:

• Become more familiar with Kepler’s Laws of Planetary Motion

 

Alignment with Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS)

This assessment is aligned with following TEKS:

• (4)  Science concepts. The student recognizes the importance and uses of astronomy in civilization. The student is expected to:

  • (B)  research and describe the contributions of scientists to our changing understanding of astronomy, including Kepler

• (3)  Relations and geometric reasoning. The student uses the process standards in mathematics to model and make connections between algebraic and geometric relations. The student is expected to:

  • (H)  use the characteristics of an ellipse to write the equation of an ellipse with center (h, k)

    (C)  use parametric equations to model and solve mathematical and real-world problems;

     

     

 

 

PEER REVIEW

 

To make sure that students are headed in the right direction, each milestone will be peer reviewed by other groups. So other groups will leave constructive comments, suggestions, questions, and concerns, so that group can make changes along the way instead of waiting to the last minute to make changes.