P LANET P ROJECT December 2014

P LANET PROJECT DETAILS In a group, you will be working together to research a planet. You will be creating questions to guide your research about a planet. Your group will learn about library and Internet resources available about planets. You will complete research about your planet. As a group, you will prepare a lesson plan to teach other students about the planet you researched.

STEP 1- C REATE R ESEARCH Q UESTIONS It is important that you create interesting questions in order to guide your research. You will spend the next few minutes brainstorming questions that you have about your planet. Keep other students in mind – what might other sixth graders be interesting in learning about your planet?

S TEP 1 – E XAMPLE : Q UESTIONS ABOUT T HE S UN How hot is the sun? How large is the sun? How many days would it take to travel to the sun? Is the sun the most important thing in the solar system? What is the diameter of the sun? Can anything live on the sun? Will the sun ever burn out? Do people like the sun? What makes the sun so hot? What planets orbit the sun? Is the sun a star or a planet? Does the sun have any of its own moons? How close have astronauts gotten to the sun? Who was the first person to discover the sun? When was the sun discovered? How heavy is the sun?

STEP 2: E LIMINATING R ESEARCH Q UESTIONS In your group, share the questions that you generated. Think about the questions together: Research can only answer questions that are fact- based. If there are any questions involving a person or group’s opinion, it cannot be answered through research. Is this a question that can be answered through research? If not, set it aside.

STEP 2 E XAMPLE : W HICH QUESTIONS CANNOT BE ANSWERED BY RESEARCH ? How hot is the sun? How large is the sun? How many days would it take to travel to the sun? Is the sun the most important thing in the solar system? What is the diameter of the sun? Can anything live on the sun? Will the sun ever burn out? Do people like the sun? What makes the sun so hot? What planets orbit the sun? Is the sun a star or a planet? Does the sun have any of its own moons? How close have astronauts gotten to the sun? Who was the first person to discover the sun? When was the sun discovered? How heavy is the sun?

S TEP 2: E XAMPLE A NSWERS Is the sun the most important thing in the solar system? Do people like the sun? These questions are opinions, so they cannot be answered through a research project.

S TEP 3: O RGANIZE YOUR R ESEARCH Q UESTIONS You will find that many of your group’s questions will overlap or ask similar questions. Using your group’s question cards, organize your research questions into groups. Not all of your questions will fit into groups. This is ok. Use the post-its on your table to label each group of questions with a topic.

S TEP 3: E XAMPLE How hot is the sun? How large is the sun? How many days would it take to travel to the sun? Is the sun the most important thing in the solar system? What is the diameter of the sun? Can anything live on the sun? Will the sun ever burn out? Do people like the sun? What makes the sun so hot? What planets orbit the sun? Is the sun a star or a planet? Does the sun have any of its own moons? How close have astronauts gotten to the sun? Who was the first person to discover the sun? When was the sun discovered? How heavy is the sun? All of these questions have to do with the size of the sun. A topic for my group’s post-it would be Sun’s Size.

S TEP 4: S ELECT YOUR TOPICS With your group members, choose the topics you would like to use to guide your research. Your group should have between 3-6 topics for research. Transfer your post-it topic to your group’s topic list. Get your list approved by an adult.

S TEP 4: E XAMPLE – T OPICS FOR S UN R ESEARCH

S TEP 5: P REPARING FOR R ESEARCH Your group will now transfer your topics and questions into research packets. Each topic will receive its own packet. Your group can use your questions as subtopics for each packet.

S TEP 5: E XAMPLE

S TEP 6: R ESEARCHING YOUR PLANET What sources are available for finding information about planets? Use the library access sheet to gather information about your planet.