Learning Goals
Students will be able to explain how plants get the materials they need for growth chiefly from air and water in an enclosed Mars habitat.
Students will be able to model the movement of matter among plants, animals, decomposers, and the environment in a Mars food web.
Students will be able to analyze how geosphere, biosphere, hydrosphere, and atmosphere interact in a dome or Mars habitat example.
Students will be able to evaluate whether a proposed set of Mars organisms could form a balanced ecosystem using evidence from habitat needs and food web relationships.
Students will be able to construct a claim-evidence-reasoning argument for or against the Mars habitat proposal and address one counterargument with scientific evidence.
Students will be able to obtain and combine information from species cards, habitat needs, observations, and the zoo educator visit to improve the Mars ecosystem design.
Students will be able to compare first and final habitat designs and identify one science idea learned, one problem solved, and one next step for improving the ecosystem.
Products
Mars Habitat CER Argument and Evidence Log
Each student submits an evidence log with notes from species cards, habitat needs, the zoo educator visit, and class observations, then writes a short CER argument defending or rejecting the proposed Mars ecosystem. The work includes a labeled food web model, one counterargument, and one revision idea.
Balanced Mars Ecosystem Showcase Model and Public Defense
Teams present a revised Mars habitat prototype with labeled arrows, species cards, and a food web showing how matter and energy move through the system. During the showcase, they give a short oral or visual defense, answer questions, and explain how feedback led to revisions.
No rubric has been generated yet.