In this role-playing game, inspired by Barnard College’s Reacting to the Past series, student teams play one of nine astronomers debating the definition of a planet at a 2006 meeting of the International Astronomical Union.   During this game, students will do the following:
 
  1. compare the history of Pluto’s discovery to that of the asteroid Ceres
  2. describe the properties of the Kuiper Belt and its members
  3. debate the necessity and value of scientific classifications
 
This game can be played be played with up to 36 students during one or two class periods as a substitute for or complement to traditional lectures on Pluto and the Kuiper Belt.
The Pluto Game: Is Pluto a Planet?
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