In Chapter 8 students explore the history of life
on Earth to see what it tells us about the possibility of life
elsewhere. They see how Earth has gone from a planet with no
life to a planet covered with life virtually everywhere we
look–from the ocean floor to the mountain peaks, from the ice
of Antarctica to the sands of the Sahara Desert, from the rocks
beneath our feet to the air all around us!
By exploring the history of the only confirmed habitable world
we know students can appreciate the ability of life to survive,
even under the most extreme conditions.
The Xtreme Files is one of a series of
WebQuests in the Astrobiology curriculum that serve as culminating
activities to synthesize unit-wide concepts in a collaborative,
inquiry-based way. Students use the latest
Web-based resources to explore the great diversity of life
and the extreme conditions under which life on Earth exists.
