The Great Debate – Science Matters: Mars Mission

Click here to download a preview of this debate.

The Mission to Mars Debate asks students to debate the question:

"Should we send a human mission to Mars?"

This download includes the following:

• 8 Fictional Character Cards (student roles) - 4 characters are FOR the topic and 4 characters are AGAINST the topic
• Student Worksheets - whether actively debating or in the audience, students will need to research the topic, generate questions, and determine if sources are credible
• Teacher Guide - offers debate-style options, objectives, and keys to running a successful debate
• Assessment Rubrics - one for summative grading and one for peer assessment based on behaviors of the debate team
• Classroom Posters - useful reminders during a debate

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The Great Debate: Science Matters is a learning series from Nitty Gritty Science to help foster science literacy among your students.

For students to achieve skills that build science literacy means that educators need to give them tools to become informed and avoid being misinformed on science issues. This includes teaching students how the scientific community produces information, how media and social media share the information, and how individuals encounter and form opinions on this information.

Science Debates are a perfect learning tool to build science literacy skills by encouraging students to:

• Develop research skills
• Evaluate both sides of an issue
• Collaborate with peers
• Become critical thinkers
• Form opinions and communicate with others who may have a different point of view

Copyright © Nitty Gritty Science, LLC. All rights reserved by author Dr. Erica Colón. This product is to be used by the original downloader only. Copying for more than one teacher, classroom, department, school, or school system is prohibited. This product may not be distributed or displayed digitally for public view. Failure to comply is a copyright infringement and a violation of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA). Clipart and elements found in this PDF are copyrighted and cannot be extracted and used outside of this file without permission or license. Intended for classroom and personal use ONLY.