Block 7: Habitability Framework: Building the Comparison
Define equilibrium and feedback loop. Give one example of each from Earth's climate.
Task: Pre-teach handout if needed.
Answer in your Field Notebook, dated.
I have completed the Habitability Framework Template for Earth, Mars, and my chosen exoplanet, and I can defend at least one classification under questioning.
I can explain how the Sun makes its energy and how that energy reaches and warms Earth.
"Develop a model based on evidence to illustrate the life span of the sun and the role of nuclear fusion in the sun's core to release energy that eventually reaches Earth in the form of radiation."
Where this runs:
- U1 B4: Habitable Zone, AU, Light-year: Scale of the Cosmos
- U1 B7: Habitability Framework: Building the Comparison ← you are here
- U1 B8: Goldilocks Report Drafting: Substantive Writing Block
Assessed:
Goldilocks Report: framework criteria involving the host star (K/U strand, Component 1 locks U1 Block 7)
On track looks like:
Your habitability framework treats the host star as an energy source with numbers attached (luminosity, HZ range), not just 'the planet needs sunlight.'
I can show how one change on Earth sets off feedback loops that change other Earth systems.
"Analyze geoscience data to make the claim that one change to Earth's surface can create feedbacks that cause changes to other Earth systems."
Where this runs:
- U1 B2: Earth as Baseline: Systems Thinking + Subsystems
- U1 B3: Mars as Calibration: What Does Earth Have That Mars Doesn't?
- U1 B7: Habitability Framework: Building the Comparison ← you are here
Assessed:
Goldilocks Report: framework criteria with feedback reasoning, esp. field 5 'where it can fail' (K/U, Component 1 locks U1 Block 7)
On track looks like:
You can run the perturbation test on a loop and say whether it amplifies or stabilizes, and your framework uses that move on real criteria.
Feedback Loops handout (in Google Classroom) · The Systems Diagrammer · Reading: Four Spheres, One System
I can argue, with evidence, that life and the rest of Earth's systems changed each other.
"Construct an argument based on evidence about the simultaneous coevolution of Earth's systems and life on Earth."
Where this runs:
- U1 B7: Habitability Framework: Building the Comparison ← you are here
Assessed:
Goldilocks Report: the atmosphere criterion and the cause-versus-consequence question (T/T, locks U1 Block 7)
On track looks like:
You can name at least one feature of Earth that exists because life is here, not the other way round, and cite what makes you think so.
I can check an AI's answer against real sources and decide: use it, fix it, or bin it.
In brief: "Evaluate whether an AI output should be accepted, revised, or rejected (paraphrased; full framework at ailiteracyframework.org)"
Where this runs:
- U0 B1: Welcome + How We Work
- U0 B2: OPVL Across Source Types
- U0 B3: AI as a Source + Documentation Protocol
- U0 B4: Source Dossier Launch + Choosing Your Topic
- U0 B5: Source Dossier Work Day 2: AI Source + Documentation
- U1 B1: Phenomenon Launch: What Makes a Planet Habitable?
- U1 B3: Mars as Calibration: What Does Earth Have That Mars Doesn't?
- U1 B5: Exoplanet Detection: Transits and What They Tell Us
- U1 B6: Reading Exoplanet Data Cards: Choosing Your Planet
- U1 B7: Habitability Framework: Building the Comparison ← you are here
- U2 B3: Rivers as Landscape Sculptors
- U2 B6: Field Photo / Map Analysis Work Day
- U2 B7: Reading the Landscape: Worked Example + OPVL
- U4 B5: IPCC AR6 Deep Dive + Chennai Climate Brief Assigned
- U4 B6: Climate Models: How They Work, How They're Wrong, How to Read Them
Assessed:
Every AI Documentation Template: the 'one thing the AI got wrong' field
On track looks like:
You catch specific errors ('it said 2024; the report says 2023'), and you've stopped writing 'AI can hallucinate.'
What today is about
Convergence day. Six blocks of work funnel into one artifact.
Until today you've been building pieces: factors in Block 1, subsystems in Block 2, Mars failure modes in Block 3, scale in Block 4, detection methods in Block 5, and your chosen exoplanet in Block 6. Today those pieces become one document (the Habitability Framework), and that document becomes the spine of the Goldilocks Report you'll draft in Block 8 and defend in Block 10.
The framework template asks five questions of every criterion you propose: (1) name it precisely, (2) say why it matters for life, (3) say how a scientist would detect it from data, (4) give Earth's value as the baseline, and (5) name where this criterion can fail. The five-field structure is deliberate: it forces every criterion to be specific, detectable, and justified. "Has the right environment" doesn't survive the template. "Stable surface temperature range allowing liquid water" does.
That last field (where it can fail) is the systems-thinking move from Block 2 in disguise. Asking what breaks when a criterion is absent is asking which feedback loop unwinds. Mars's atmosphere didn't disappear at once; an atmospheric-loss feedback ran unchecked once the magnetic field weakened. Every criterion you write today is also a claim about a feedback loop that keeps life possible.
Before you start the work
Keep these open. They are the references you reach for while you build the framework, not a menu to choose from. Notes go in your Class Notebook as a Power outline.
Taking notes? Power 1 seeds for today
Today's work: choose one path
Three real paths, same destination: a complete Habitability Framework for Earth, Mars, and your chosen exoplanet.
Want a peer-reviewed model for the move you're making? Pull up Thompson et al. (2022) from U0 Block 2: the Significance box plus the three criteria in the abstract for flagging biological methane on an exoplanet. Thompson's team picked exactly three criteria to separate life-made methane from geology. What did they include that you hadn't thought of? What did they leave out that your framework includes? Comparing your criteria against a real research team's (the same Lovelock → Thompson lineage you met in U0) is one of the fastest ways to find the gaps in your own.
Open your Class Notebook and type today's entry header as Heading 2:
A: Oct 5 | U1 B7 | Habitability Framework: Building the ComparisonB: Oct 6 | U1 B7 | Habitability Framework: Building the Comparison
What you're submitting today
Component 1 of the Goldilocks Report locks today: the habitability framework. K/U strand band marked.
Photo or scan of your completed template, including: 5–7 criteria with all five fields filled in for Earth, Mars, and your chosen exoplanet · each cell color-coded MEETS / PARTIAL / FAILS · one classification circled and flagged "I can defend this" with a one-sentence reasoning note. This is the first component that locks. Your framework is banded on Knowledge and Understanding and comes back within 48 hours, because Block 8 is the drafting block.
Submit via Google Classroom (link posted in August)One question before you leave
Three to five minutes. Your answer is saved to your reflection journal, where you can read back everything you have written this year.
Self-assessment against today's success criteria.
Today's reflection is in Google Classroom, under Reflection Journal.
Link posted in AugustSign in with your school account. Your teacher can see what you write here.