The Martian Lesson Plan

EXTREME-ophiles!

Kind of Activity:

Creative Writing

Objective:

Students will use information that they collect on extremophiles to create a short story about a life form that they invented

Common Core Standards:

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.11-12.3

Structure:

In The Martian, Mark Watney is forced to survive the harsh environment of Mars, a place that (for all we know) has not been able to support life for thousands of years. The best hope of finding life on Mars at the moment is in the polar ice caps that still exist on the planet. Some scientists hope that those ice caps might contain microscopic organisms known as extremophiles that live in extremely harsh conditions. This...