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Exploring the Universe: Imagining Life

In this activity, learners imagine extreme environments that may exist beyond Earth and create living things that could thrive there.

DESCRIPTION

"Exploring the Universe: Imagining Life" is a hands-on activity in which visitors imagine and draw an extreme environment beyond Earth, then invent a living thing that could thrive in it. They learn that NASA scientists study extremophiles on Earth to imagine the variety of life that might exist elsewhere, and make predictions about where to look for it.

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  • a learner creates and draws an extremophile that could live on another planet
  • Photo of various components of the Imagining Life activity
  • a learner creates and draws an extremophile that could live on another planet
  • Photo of various components of the Imagining Life activity

DESCRIPTION

"Exploring the Universe: Imagining Life" is a hands-on activity in which visitors imagine and draw an extreme environment beyond Earth, then invent a living thing that could thrive in it. They learn that NASA scientists study extremophiles on Earth to imagine the variety of life that might exist elsewhere, and make predictions about where to look for it.

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TRAINING VIDEOS

OBJECTIVES

BIG IDEA

NASA scientists study extremophiles on Earth to imagine the variety of life that might exist elsewhere, and make predictions about where to look for it.

LEARNING GOALS

  • If life exists elsewhere in the universe, it could look very different from life on Earth.

  • Life on Earth comes in an amazing variety of forms.

  • Astrobiologists use our knowledge about life on Earth to make predictions about what life might be like elsewhere in the universe.

Credits

YEAR CREATED
2017
OWNING INSTITUTION

The Science Museum of Minnesota

FUNDING

This material is based upon work supported by NASA under cooperative agreement award number NNX16AC67A. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the view of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).

PERMISSIONS

Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial Share Alike 3.0 United States (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 US).
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DEVELOPMENT PROCESS

NISE Network products are developed through an iterative collaborative process that includes scientific review, peer review, and visitor evaluation in accordance with an inclusive audiences approach. Products are designed to be easily edited and adapted for different audiences under a Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial Share Alike license. To learn more, visit our Development Process page.