Please note: Planetary Forecaster is being revised by the GEODE Initiative for publication. The materials linked to this page are for preview and evaluation purposes. For information about acquiring a current version of Planetary Forecaster for classroom use, contact the GEODE Initiative at geode@mail.sesp.northwestern.edu.
Planetary Forecaster is an inquiry-based science curriculum that integrates hands-on lab activities with the use of technology for exploration and modeling. In this curriculum, students explore the major factors leading to temperature variation around the globe, and then use what they learn to make temperature predictions (and in turn, identify the habitable areas) on a fictional, newly discovered planet.
In order to make their temperature prediction for the new planet, students must answer the following driving questions:
What are the major factors that affect surface temperature?
How do each of these factors affect temperature (in other words, what is the actual effect)?
Why do each of these factors have the effect that they do?
These questions motivate a series of investigations (consisting of both hands-on labs and computer-based activities) in which students examine the different factors affecting temperatures. The curriculum concludes with students' final presentations in which they describe their findings and make a recommendation for where the new planet should be colonized.
For the computer-based activities, students use WorldWatcher, a scientific visualization and data analysis program, to examine real-world temperature data (in order to develop and refine their hypotheses about the causes of global temperature variation). Students may also us Progress Portfolio software to track their evolving hypotheses and record their evidence throughout the investigation.
This curriculum focuses on four factors that cause temperature variation while addressing four kinds of learning goals:
The shape / curvature of Earth's surface
The tilt of Earth's axis of rotation
Land / water differences
Elevation
Analyze and use data
Create hypotheses
Investigate those hypotheses
Synthesize the resulting information
Support their claims with evidence
Gather data electronically from WorldWatcher
Capture data and post it in the Progress Portfolio
Revise hypotheses in Progress Portfolio
Monitor their evolving understanding
Download PDF
/ Word version of a more extensive introduction
to the curriculum.
Overview / Activities / Software / People