Is there life elsewhere in the universe?
What is life's future on Earth and beyond?
How did life originate on  Earth?

These are some of the profound and exciting questions we use to stimulate students’ interest in science.

Your questions may be more down to Earth, like:

What are the benefits of teaching Astrobiology?

TERC has developed a middle and high school curriculum that stimulates student learning and participation with intriguing questions and illuminating activities. Astrobiology, by its very nature, kindles interest and curiosity in students and offers a genuinely exciting entrée to high school science. Students experience science in a relevant and meaningful way as they consider the fascinating story of searching for life in the universe.

Astrobiology is a low-cost, high-impact science course designed to reach students having a wide range of abilities. The yearlong curriculum is an inquiry-based, interdisciplinary program of study. Through a series of hands-on activities, students explore diverse concepts in chemistry, physics, biology, and Earth and space science. These concepts are truly integrated—there are no artificial divisions of scientific disciplines.

The Astrobiology curriculum was conceived, developed, and written by leading educators and classroom teachers with the participation of NASA and with funding from the National Science Foundation. Each chapter of the course has been field tested by dozens of teachers and thousands of students.The curriculum will be available in July 2005.