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=Random Ideas/Questions for Planetary Science iPad App=


 * [|Daily astronomy cartoon]
 * Require e-Portfolio (wiki pages) for all students. Private to prof only until all students complete each assignment, then open to all.
 * Link to/incorporate NASA activities/videos
 * Great planetary scientists videos/wbepages - from NASA
 * How make this iPadable? Isn't this a stand alone app with no profs?
 * Encourage discussion groups to share? On an external wiki page? Or something within the app?
 * Need to have open ended questions so there isn't a correct answer that ends discussion

__Syllabus for One Semester Planetary Science High School Curriculum__
Used to be restricted to 1 SS, just ours, now more than 1 Solar System - excitement for beginning course and focusing inquiry on what constitutes a SS and what types of objects are in ours. Provide links for them to investigate discovery methods if they want, but not required. Not how planets discovered but what we are finding - 500+ planets, 100+ solar systems. What characteristics of these SS? Big planets close in; Earth size planets rare. ? Can iPad course have link to automatically update number of planets? Or Just link to free exoplanet app to be downloaded???
 * Intro: Solar Systems Everywhere - 1 week**

Quick inventory of what here: 1 star - average, compare to other stars; lifetime, stability 8 planets 100+ moons 100,000+ asteroids billions comets trillions pieces of cosmic dust gravity and magnetic fields, particles
 * A Census of our SS - 1 weeks**

small rocky worlds near Sun, few moons, not rings big gas balls further out debris transition zone (asteroids) beyond gas giants, more small stuff (100s km and smaller), mostly circular orbits: Kuiper Belt Objects comets - two groups, inside SS, and almost outside (Oort Cloud)
 * How arranged? - 1 week**

Look at Picture of Earth from Space and others from the surface - describe how to characterize it. What can we learn about how it works? Now look at pictures of the Moon - do same thing. WHy the differences? Processes important - impact cratering on Moon, apparently not so much on Earth. Volcanism on both places, but different kinds - no lunar Fuji. Earth has greatest range of processes due to active interior and surface and atmospheric driven processes - this is something realized at end of this section after process tabulation for each rocky planet.
 * Rocky Worlds - 3 weeks**

Characterize photo to start. No surface, all clouds. But not all same on Jupiter - belts and colors, and different across 4 jovian planets - why? Rings - made of what, how form? Lots of satellites, why? (gravity)
 * Gas Worlds - 3 weeks**

Leftovers, not captured by developing planets, Sun What tell us about early days of SS Asteroid belt - snow line meteorites comets
 * Debris - 3 weeks**

Planet size and distance from Sun Comparison with other SS Goldilocks zone - 3 states of water Gravity, metals, civilization
 * Comparison with Other Solar Systems - 2 weeks**