Trip to the Solar System

A WebQuest for 5th Grade (Science)

Designed by

Christine Hooper and Susan Rousseau
chooper@mansd.org

Introduction | Task | Process | Evaluation | Conclusion | Credits | Teacher Page


Introduction

Have you ever wondered what it is like to travel into space?
What is the Solar System made of?
What kinds of things would you need to survive in space?

You are a travel agent. You are going to plan and take a trip to the Solar System. When you get back from your trip, you will be able to answer the questions of curious and potential vacationers. Your knowledge and experiences will help guide your clients to the perfect vacation spot in the Solar System for them.

 Your job is to visit a planet and to teach others about the planet you have traveled to.

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ESSENTIAL QUESTIONS
1) How can you support your decision for your selected planet?
2) What factors helped you decide?


The Task

Your job is to gather information about your planet. Before you begin your expedition, you will be required to collect data on all the planets in our solar system in order to make your decision. Then you will decide which planet you would like to explore in more detail.


The Process

  1. First, you'll be assigned to a team of 3 or 4 students.
  2. Your group, will research each of the nine planets. Decide how you will divide the research. Each member should research at least 3 separate planets.
  3. Answer the following questions about each of the nine planets in our Solar System:

RESEARCH THE FOLLOWING FOR EACH OF THE NINE PLANETS:

  • What is the location of the planet from the sun? (ordinal number)
  • What is the distance measured from Earth?
  • What is the average temperature?
  • What is the diameter of the planet? (in kilometers)
  • What is the rotation period compared to Earth? (One day on your planet equals how many hours/days on Earth)
  • How many (if any) moons does the planet have? What are the names of the moons?
  • How long would it take to travel? (in light-years)
  • Describe the atmosphere. (What gases are in the atmosphere?)
  • Describe the surface.
  • What is the most interesting fact(s) you learned about this planet? (volcanoes, rings, valleys...)
  • Would you like to travel there?

Click on the picture for web template

Visit these sites to gather your research.

Solar System Facts

Virtual Tour

Learn About the Solar System

Facts About the Planets

Blast Off

Rocket Tour

  1. After all of your research is complete, come together as a group. Then discuss and share all of the information you each gathered. As a group, choose the planet you would like to travel to.
  2. Take a virtual trip to the planet. To take a virtual trip, visit the websites listed above in more detail.
  3. Take notes on your journey. Be sure to include photos and descriptions of the photos to help people understand what they might see. List at least five interesting facts about your planet.
  4. Your task is to create travel brochure relaying the information you have learned from your trip.
  5. After your brochure is completed, your group will present the brochure to the class in an oral presentation.
  6. Each member in the group will participate in the oral presentation. Decide as a group who will share each part of the brochure. Each person must have a speaking part.

Have fun and enjoy your trip!

Click picture for Travel Brochure

If using a Mac, wait until the cursor turns to a hand, then hold the control key and click, choose "Download Link to Disk", and save the template to the desktop. If the question asking to append the document pops up, choose don't.


Evaluation

Each group will be graded on the brochure according to the Space Brochure rubric.

Each group will be graded on the presentation of their brochure.

Rubric

Your brochure will be graded by using the following rubric.


Conclusion

Students will become familiar the solar system and with each planet.

Our solar system has nine known planets. The planets differ in size and distance from the sun.

Students will learn to interpret data. Students will collect, record and interpret data.

Why do you think there is life on Earth but there is no other known life on any other planet in the solar system?

In what ways is Pluto different from the outer planets?

Can you hypothesize why the gas giants are so big?

How does the size of the planet affect the characteristics of each planet?

Do you think space travel to all of the planets in the Solar System will ever be possible?

How do the planets differ from each other?

Would you like to travel into space?

Credits & References

Discovery Works; Silver Burdett Ginn Inc.; 1996

http://www.starhop.com/links.htm

http://pds.jpl.nasa.gov/planets/

http://starchild.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/StarChild/

http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/index.html

http://ic-www.arc.nasa.gov/ic/projects/bayes-group/Atlas/

http://www.nineplanets.org/

http://kids.msfc.nasa.gov/

Christa McAuliffe Planetarium

Thank you to Lori Collins for all of her guidance and support in this WebQuest process!

Teacher's Page

The objective of this WebQuest is to learn our solar system’Äôs nine known planets differ in size and distance from the sun resulting in different characteristics for each planet. Children will enhance their research skills using technology.¬Ý Children will strengthen their reading comprehension skills and learn how to decipher important information through non-fiction text.¬Ý

Last updated on March 30, 2005 . Based on a template from The WebQuest Page