Below is the email letter that was sent to scientists.
| Dear Academic,
I am a middle school science teacher who is seeking your participation in a survey/questionnaire that was generated from questions by my students. We have been involved in a unit on astronomy and I am very pleased with the enthusiasm my students have towards their learning. Prior to teaching this unit I taught a unit on living things and ecosystems. I began the astronomy unit with a bridge to our previous unit. I had students read a paper on the Goldilocks Conditions and some amazing organisms living outside the expected norms. We then discussed the possibilities of life somewhere other than Earth. The lesson worked to inspire conversation and create a transition into our new unit. As we work through the unit, the idea of life beyond our planet has risen again and again. My students' insights are very interesting and very affected by the media. We discussed the focus of the media vs. the process scientists follow for gaining information. They understand media's focus on entertainment but want to know what scientists think about some of their questions. I decided to create this survey to give them this insight but I also wanted them to think hard about what we were studying. I asked my students to think beyond their textbook and develop questions they had about space. It was a great tool for the classroom. Many students thought hard and asked good questions. The students' questions allowed for teacher/student and student/student discussions and we were able to answer many in class. We do have 12 questions that were left for experts. As a result of these lessons my students are very excited about science. Please take a minute to complete their survey and reinforce their curiosity. The results of the survey will be tallied by the students and I will post them, as well as answers to questions, on our web site. If you have any questions please feel free to contact me. The address for our web site: http://www.callunafineflowers.com/memorial_middle_school/arewealone/index.htm The address for our survey: http://www.callunafineflowers.com/memorial_middle_school/arewealone/survey.htm In order to process the survey form, we had to place our site on the
server of a local merchant. If you are concerned about the http://home.maine.rr.com/memorial/global.htm Thank you for your time and participation. Sincerely, |