Students will research a planet or moon in our solar system using resources on the internet or in the school library.  Students will prepare a presentation to share what they learned with the rest of their class.  A research guide sheet is provided as well as a scoring rubric.
 

This project fulfills the following Grade 7 General Science WV IGO's:
 

This project will take at least 6 instructional days.  If your students are not familiar with using the Internet, I suggest a practice worksheet to familiarize the students with using a computer for research.  Click here for a sample sheet I made up for doing research on the computer using an online encyclopedia, Electric Library, and the Internet.

I allowed three or four days for students to do their planet research.  I assigned a different planet or moon to each student in the class so that we could cover the solar system in depth.  The assignment is also adaptable to having two students working together on a planet or moon.  With the requirement of a visual aid (poster or model), cooperative grouping may be a better idea.  The visual aid can also be extra credit.
 
 

Student presentations can take two days if you have 25 students in your class.  When the students gave their presentations, I had the other students take notes on each planet.  They were allowed to use these notes on the chapter test later that week.  Click here for a  form to help guide student note taking.

Materials needed:  Internet ready computer lab, printer, books on space or the planets, poster board, art materials, paper, pencil.
 

Assessment

Students should be monitored while doing their computer research.  Students should turn in a written product of their research,  a visual aid, and give an oral presentation.  Click below for the scoring rubric.

 
 
 

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