Introduction and task

You are going to play the role of Johannes Kepler.

Develop a website where you persuasively put forward your theory that the earth revolves around the Sun.

The Process and Resources

Your website must have the following:

• A threaded discussion forum. You must start at least threads about different topics yourself.

  Everyone in class should make add least one posting to this discussion forum. To make this discussion interesting and realistic, everyone does not have to agree with you views.

  Your website should prove that you applied scientific habits of mind and scientific methods to come up with your theories.

• Voting functionality / polls

  Your website visitors should have the ablility to vote on at least 3 controversial science issues on your website.

  Survey and voting scripts from the Cgi Resource Index
  Scripts for polls and voting from Hotscripts

• Include a short biography about yourself (ending around 5 years before your (Kepler's) death).

  Detailed biography: Johannes Kepler
  Johannes Kepler His Life, His Laws and Times
  Johannes Kepler

  Life Story Writing Tips - tips for writing a biography.

• Have a form where people can send you email.

  Scripts for forms that can send email - from the Perl Archive
  Scripts for forms that can send email - from the Cgi Resource Index

• And easy-to-understand explanation of your (Kepler's) Laws of Planetary Motion

  Johannes Kepler: The Laws of Planetary Motion
  Kepler's Laws of Planetary Motion

• Abstracts about the books you wrote

Project 2061 Benchmarks for Science Literacy

Historical Perspectives - Displacing the Earth from the Center of the Universe - Grades 9 through 12

• Johannes Kepler, a German astronomer who lived at about the same time as Galileo, showed mathematically that Copernicus' idea of a sun-centered system worked well if uniform circular motion was replaced with uneven (but predictable) motion along off-center ellipses.

• In the short run, new ideas (the heliocentric system) that do not mesh well with mainstream ideas in science often encounter vigorous criticism. In the long run, theories are judged by how they fit with other theories, the range of observations they explain, how well they explain observations, and how effective they are in predicting new findings.
• New ideas (the heliocentric system) in science are limited by the context in which they are conceived; are often rejected by the scientific establishment; sometimes spring from unexpected findings; and usually grow slowly, through contributions from many investigators.

Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills for Technology Education
Chapter 123. Subchapter D. Exploratory, High School § 112.48. Astronomy.

(3) Scientific processes. The student uses critical thinking and scientific problem solving to make informed decisions. The student is expected to:

• (E) research and describe the history of astronomy and contributions of scientists.

Conclusion

During this WebQuest you learned:

• The role of Johannes Kepler in the development of the heliocentric system.
• How to develop a biographical website for a scientist.

This WebQuest can be assessed using website design rubrics.

Here is a list of assessment rubrics

	Copyright Thralow, Inc, 2003.