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A drawing of molecules from meteors entering the Earth. On the Earth, the molecules combine into more complex organic molecules.

Astrobiology Learning Progressions

A resource to help scientists and educators conduct learning experiences and communicate about astrobiology.

Contents

About

The purpose of the Astrobiology Learning Progressions is to provide cognitive, instructional, and communication support for formal and informal educators, scientists, outreach specialists, and product developers who create and conduct learning experiences and otherwise communicate about astrobiology. The content of the Astrobiology Learning Progressions aligns closely with the topics covered in the Astrobiology Primer v2.0 and the NASA Astrobiology Strategy.

Astrobiology’s investigations and core concepts are inherently interdisciplinary, and are underpinned by fundamental science concepts in many different scientific disciplines. The Astrobiology Learning Progressions provide direct connections between discipline-based, fundamental concepts in science and the interdisciplinary core concepts of astrobiology.

State standards guide K-12 educators to teach those fundamental concepts, yet even the newest standards, the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS), are just beginning to reflect the interdisciplinary nature of many fields of science. The Astrobiology Learning Progressions support teachers to use the interdisciplinary nature of astrobiology to teach those fundamental concepts required by the standards.

And for scientists, as they prepare to make classroom visits, give public talks, or otherwise communicate about astrobiology, the Astrobiology Learning Progressions help them to link their own work in astrobiology with the formal learning their audiences have likely have had in Earth, life, and physical sciences.

How to Use

How to use this resource to best communicate astrobiology concepts

There are 6 major parts of the Astrobiology Learning Progressions that help frame and guide education, outreach, communication, and public engagement efforts in astrobiology. Select the tabs below to learn more about these components.

Core Learning Questions and their Sub-Questions

The Astrobiology Learning Progressions are broken down into 7 main questions, each of which represents a major interdisciplinary concept in astrobiology. Each Core Learning Question has several sub-questions, each of which has a web page that is further divided into grade bands.

Portrait photo of Comic-style illustration showing diverse life forms and molecules in the foreground emitting what are intended to be atmospheric biosignature spectra across multiple exoplanets in space.
Scientists study exoplanets by analyzing starlight through spectroscopy, splitting light into chemical fingerprints. Spectroscopy may reveal potential biosignatures in the form of organic compounds in the exoplanet's atmosphere or on its surface.
NASA/Aaron Gronstal

Core Learning Questions

How did matter come together to make planets and life in the first place?

  1. Are we really made of star stuff?
  2. How did our Solar System form?
Drawing of planets at different distances from their star. The closest planet is burning hot, the furthest planet is ice cold, and the middle planet is temperate.
The Goldilocks Zone (also known as the habitable zone) is the range of distances from a star where conditions are just right — not too hot, not too cold — for liquid water to exist on a planet's surface, making it potentially suitable for life as we know it.
NASA/Aaron Gronstal

How did Earth become a planet on which life could develop?

  1. What was the Earth like right after it formed?
  2. How was the Sun different when it formed compared to now?
  3. Where could life have gotten started on Earth?
Comic-style illustration showing four progressions of Earth, from a black and red body, to a grey body with yellow red cracks, to a green and blue planet, to a green, blue, and cloudy planet.
Earth's habitability emerged through its evolution, from the cooling of magma oceans into liquid water oceans more than 4 billion years ago, to the onset of plate tectonics establishing the carbon-silicate cycle. Then, 2.4 billion years ago, the atmosphere transformed to oxidizing conditions, enabling life. Earth's active geology collectively sustained the conditions for life to diversify.
NASA/Aaron Gronstal

What is life?

  1. What are the characteristics of life?
  2. What does life need for survival?
  3. What determines if a planet can have life?
  4. Why is water so important for life as we know it?
  5. How can we tell if something is alive or not?
Comic-style illustration of chains of molecules
Artist illustration of DNA, peptides, and other biomolecules used by life.
NASA/Aaron Gronstal

How did life on Earth originate?

  1. Where do life's building blocks come from?
  2. What are the sources of life's building blocks within the Earth?
  3. What are the sources of life’s building blocks outside the Earth?
Meteoroids in space on the left and Earth on the right. As the meteors enter Earth's atmosphere, they are depicted as molecules. Closer to the Earth's surface are complex organic macromolecules, like DNA.
Molecules from meteors entering Earth and combining into more complex organic compounds.
NASA/Aaron Gronstal

How have life and Earth co-evolved?

  1. How did life first emerge on Earth?
  2. How did the first cells arise?
  3. How did life become something that competes for resources and evolves?
Comic-style illustration showing a submersible vehicle in grey and red investigating the sea floor full of mollusk-like and anemone-like organisms. Thermal vents are seen at the right and left with a grey-orange gaceous substance being emitted.
The submersible Alvin identified hydrothermal vents at the bottom of the sea for the first time in 1977. The finding showed that deep ocean environments could be habitats for life on worlds far from the energy of the Sun.
NASA/Aaron Gronstal

How has life evolved to survive in diverse environments on Earth?

  1. How did life on Earth come to occupy so many different environments?
  2. What types of conditions can life survive in?
  3. Are there environments beyond Earth that could be habitable?
Comic-style image of five test tubes on a brown holder, ith a pipette injecting an orange liquid into the fifth tube. Each tube depicts Earth environments of different types, colors, textures, with "Na" and "Fe" labeled on two of them, and the first four numbered.
Life has evolved to survive in diverse environments on Earth, from environments where Fe-rich or Na-rich fluids circulate and provide nutrients to life, to S-rich volcanic and hydrothermal environments where forms of life have evolved to tolerate extreme and diverse conditions. These environments are useful to explore and samples for astrobiology research.
NASA/Aaron Gronstal

How do we explore beyond Earth for signs of life?

  1. What is a biosignature?
  2. How do we explore within our own Solar System for signs of life?
  3. How do we discover worlds around other stars?
  4. How can we identify worlds around other stars that could have life?
A comic-style rocky body is seen with a probe hovering over it looking like it is extending an instrument onto the surface to sample the material. The background is illuminated in shades of pink rays.
Scientists use rovers, telescopes, and spacecraft to search for life's building blocks beyond earth. For example, NASA's OSIRIS-REx mission returned samples from asteroid Bennu, discovering organic moleculesthere.
NASA/Aaron Gronstal