Logo: Solar System Vacation
Button: Introduction
Button:Task
Button: Process
Button: Resources
Button: Evaluation
Button: Conclusion

Introduction:

NASA is currently making plans to visit the Moon by the year 2020. Where will we go after that? What if it was safe to live on any planet in a super-space craft; where would you like to visit? That is the question that this mission is going to answer:
What would be the best planet in our solar system to visit on a vacation?
Your crew has been assigned with the mission of answering this question. You will need to research and investigate the solar system and pick the planet that you think would be the best planet to take a vacation. Each crew member will take on one of four roles and together you will pick the planet you think is best for taking a vacation on and report this to the rest of the class.

Your crew will consist of a journalist, geologist, photographer, and astrologist. Below you will find some suggestion to help you when playing each of the roles:
Image with text Journalist Image with text Geologist

Some things to consider while playing the role of the journalists:

  • Journalist research the facts
  • They are good at comparing details
  • The journalist might ask what makes a good vacation on Earth and investigate what other planets have those features.

Some things to consider while playing the role of the Geologist:

  • Geologist research details about the composition of the planet (including the surface and atmosphere)
  • A geologist might compare the surface of a planet with Earth's and ask how they are different or similar.
Image with text Photographer Image with text Astrologist

Some things to consider while playing the role of the Photographer:

  • The main job of the photographer is to gather different photos of the planet the crew will be recommending.
  • Photographers using many tools when gathering photos including Internet search tools such as Google's Imagery Database

 

Some things to consider while playing the role of the Astrologist:

  • Astrologists look at the big picture on how their planet compares to the others
  • Astrologists look at the details like learning the number of moons or the distance to the sun to help with reporting.

When going through this mission try to remember that your team needs to answer The Big Question:

What would be the best planet to visit on a vacation?

To get started, you should visit the Task Page next to learn about the the mission details.