Scientist for a Day challenges students in
grades 5-12 to think like scientists. Examine real spacecraft images of
Uranus’ moon Miranda, Neptune’s moon Triton, and Pluto’s moon Charon. Choose
the destination you think would be the best place to return with
another spacecraft to learn even more about these amazing worlds. Support
your choice in an essay of no more than 500 words.
Essay Topics.
Write an essay (500 words maximum) explaining
which of the three moons out of Miranda, Triton or Charon, you think is most
interesting, and explain why. If you could send a spacecraft to explore your
chosen moon in more detail, which of these three moons would you choose to
visit and study further? What do you hope you would learn? What do you think
we might find there?
a. Topic 1: Miranda, Moon of Uranus.
Miranda, the fifth largest moon of Uranus, has only been explored so far by
NASA’s Voyager 2 spacecraft in 1986. Its Frankenstein-like surface appears to
be cobbled together from many types of rock and ice.
b. Topic
2: Triton, Moon of Neptune. Triton, the largest moon of Neptune, has
nitrogen ice on its surface and a core made of rock and metal. Triton is
volcanically active, and it has a very thin nitrogen atmosphere. NASA’s Voyager
2 spacecraft flew by Triton in 1989.
c. Topic 3: Charon, Moon of Pluto. Charon is the largest moon of the dwarf planet, Pluto. The New Horizons spacecraft flew by Charon in July 2015.
Rules and Guidelines
On the basis of classes /
ages groups, schools can participate by forwarding their best essays along with
dully filled Registration Form to manager.sead@gmail.com by 03 Feb, 2020.
Registration form can be downloaded from the given link. Each school can forward only one essay in each of the following groups:
|
Group A |
Group B |
Group C |
|
Class 5 to 6 |
Class 7 to 8 |
Class 9 to 12 |
|
under 11 years |
under 14 years |
under 18 years |
2. The
participants can select only one topic from the following:
· Miranda,
Moon of Uranus
· Triton,
Moon of Neptune
· Charon,
Moon of Pluto
3. The
essay should explain which of the three moons you think is most interesting and
explain why. If you could send another spacecraft to explore your chosen moon
in more detail, which of these three moons would you choose to visit? What do
you hope you would learn?
4. The
essays can only be written in English language.
5. The
manuscript must be the original work of a participant, in case of identifying
any plagiarized (copy-paste) material or assistance from parents / teacher, the
entry will be disqualified.
6. The
manuscripts will be score out of 10, whereas the breakup of the marking
criteria is as follows:
a. Idea expressed in the manuscript
(score – out of 3)
b. Topic based authoring (score –
out of 4)
c. Spelling & Grammar (score –
out of 3)
7. Eloquence
is vital for a scientist to express his/her ideas on the paper. Therefore, the
grammatical structures, vocabulary and spellings will be taken into account, in
addition to the idea expressed in the manuscript
8. Participants
are required to use only plain text (without picture or attachment) to
elaborate their ideas
9. The appropriate word count of each entry
should be under 400 to 500 words, whereas the essays that are longer than 500
words will be disqualified.