Steve Holcombe (San Leandro High School), Elaine Gardner (Castro Valley High School), Kristina Duncan (Castro Valley High School)

How Would Life Adapt to Extreme Atmospheric Conditions?

ESSENTIAL QUESTIONS/ PROBLEM

Learning Objectives (Science Standards)Grade 9-12: Earth Science8. Life has changed Earth's atmosphere, and changes in the atmosphere affect conditions for life.

b: Students can explain how the composition of Earth's atmosphere has evolved over geologic time and know the effect of out gassing, the variations of carbon dioxide concentration, and how the origin of atmospheric oxygen affects life on Earth.

1.Astronomy and planetary exploration reveal the solarsystem's structure, scale, and change over time.

c: Students can summarize the evidence from geological studies of Earth and other planets suggest that the early Earth was very different from Earth today.

Investigation & Experimentation – (Grades 9-12)D: Formulate explanations by using logic and evidence.

L: Analyze situations and solve problems that require combining and applying concepts from more than one area of science.

INSTRUCTIONAL STRATEGIES

KEY ACTIVITIES

ENGAGEWe will use NASA’s video Extremophile Hunters and other video clips to introduce students to the unique adaptations of extremophiles.

EXPLOREWe will use NASA’s activity What Makes a World Habitable to investigate how humans adapted to live in Earth’s environment. Students will formulate a conclusion supported by three points of evidence on whether planets studied in the activity are habitable for humans.  EXPLAINStudents will complete a vocabulary study guide sheet before completing a reading on the evolution of Earth’s atmosphere. After the reading, students will take notes from a PowerPoint presentation to reiterate content from the reading.  EXTEND Students will use their notes from the reading and lecture to create a timeline of the evolution of Earth’s atmosphere. In groups of three, students will use their timelines to brainstorm a hypothetical extremophile from a certain period of the Earth’s history.  EVALUATE Using information from their brainstorming session, students will use a template to create a Spacebook profile poster of their hypothetical extremophiles. Students will work independently to create a one page paper that explains the physical environment of the Earth during their time period and why their extremophile is ideal for surviving in this environment.

•Students will use sentence starters when explaining their What Makes Earth Habitable conclusion.•Students will create a graphic organizer timeline of changes in the Earth’s atmosphere.•Students will take notes and draw pictures from a PowerPoint presentation that has at least one visual on each slide. •Students will create Cornell notes that questions and summarizes notes on Earth’s atmospheric evolution.•Students will complete a scoring guide sheet to front load key vocabulary. •Students will complete an anticipation guide before and after the class reading.

•Students will be given a time machine scenario in which they will design an organism that will best survive the conditions at various times in Earth’s history.

• Introduces extremophiles as examples of organisms with unique adaptations to extreme environments on Earth today.

• Students will use this information to answer the question: How would life adapt to extreme atmospheric conditions?

Above photo shows the limb of the Earth transitioning into the orange-colored stratosphere, the lowest and most dense portion of the Earth's atmosphere. Source: NASA.gov

Photo of methane ice worm. Source: NASA.gov

1. NASA’s Life on Earth… and Elsewhere, chapter 3 “What Makes a World Habitable” activity

http://astrobiology.nasa.gov/nai/education-and-outreach/products-and-resources/life-on-earthand-elsewhere/

2. NASA’s video, Extremophiles Hunter.http://www.nsf.gov/news/special_reports/science_nation/extremophile.jsp

3. NASA’s tutorial on Earth’s atmosphere. http://rst.gsfc.nasa.gov/Sect19/Sect19_2a.html

RESOURCES

Source: NASA.gov

Photo of gases being released into the atmosphere from a volcano. Source: NASA.gov

This lesson is a modification of Kristina Duncan and Elaine Gardner’s NASA project “How Would Life Adapt on Another Plant”, which focuses on evolution standards in high school Biology.

PROJECT MODIFICATIONS