Terraforming is the process of altering the ecosystem of a region on Earth, Moon, or another planet to make it habitable for people. This may include altering the atmosphere, temperature, surface, or environment.

The Moon, Mars, and Venus have all been considered as candidates for terraforming. What modifications would be needed to make such places suitable for humans? The “worldhouse concept” involves enclosing areas on Earth or even entire planetary bodies under domes. Scientists theorize of geo-engineering the Sahara desert into a lush forest. What unforeseen effects and consequences might these actions create? What other areas might be considered for terraforming?

Many questions surround the logistical, financial, political, and technological process of terraforming. Some people debate the reasons, benefits, and justifications of terraforming. Still, others consider ethical questions surrounding the practice of terraforming. What is the future of designing new habitats for humans? How will humanity redesign environments to make them more hospitable?

Please preview all videos in this Smore to ensure they are acceptable for use with your age students. It is important that you ensure all content qualifies for your school/district's Acceptable Use Policy.

Example: The video below does mention one questionable word around the 2:10 minute mark. The rest of the information included is informative and interesting, so you may just want to block out this word.

Pretend you have two Future Scenes:

1. The first FS is set in a terraformed area on Mars in the year 2050.

2. The second FS is set in a terraformed area on Venus in the year 2050.

Write 4 challenges for each of the two FS. How would the challenges differ for each location? What similarities might there be for each location?

Challenge:

Use one of the following vocabulary words in each of your original challenges. Demonstrate your understanding of the word by using it correctly in context. Don't forget to be flexible by addressing a different category in each challenge! Use a vocabulary word only once!

Vocabulary:

habitable, extant, ecosystem, pantropy, overcrowding, adaptation, artificial,

biodome, atmosphere, insulate, compatible, synthetic, organism, environment

Writing a good solution can earn your team a great deal of points and demonstrate to the evaluators your creativity and research knowledge. Practice writing solutions with your team by first doing the attached Morphological Matrix. Then, select one idea from each column to write four creative and researched based solutions. Remember a good solution contains at least 3 of the W's. But, an even better solution uses this "secret formula:"

WHO + will do WHAT + HOW + WHY

This formula allows you to create well elaborated solutions. Good luck!

Try using this TIPS page!

Terraforming...is this the BEST way to save our future world?

YOU DECIDE!