Block 9: NASA Stakeholder Q&A Prep: Practicing the Defense
What is the toughest question you expect to get at your defense next class? Tell a partner why.
Task: 30 seconds each.
Answer in your Field Notebook, dated.
I have rehearsed at least 6 questions from the bank (one per category), can answer a question I haven't seen using my framework, and have identified the strongest objection to my exoplanet's habitability claim with a planned response.
I can use AI to make MY work better, and show exactly who changed what.
In brief: "Direct generative AI to elicit feedback, refine work, and support reflection (paraphrased)"
Where this runs:
- U1 B8: Goldilocks Report Drafting: Substantive Writing Block
- U1 B9: NASA Stakeholder Q&A Prep: Practicing the Defense ← you are here
- U2 B8: Landscape Reading Drafting + Peer Feedback
- U4 B10: Climate Brief Work Day + Worked-Example Brief + Peer Feedback
- U4 B11: Climate Brief Final Drafting + Panel Rehearsal
Assessed:
Revision Trail: practiced U1/U2 Block 8, assessed with the U5 Position Paper
On track looks like:
Your trail has modified and rejected rows, not just accepted ones; the judgment stays yours.
What today is about
One block between you and the NASA Committee defense. Today is rehearsal.
Your draft is complete (or close to it). Next class (Block 10) you defend it for 2 minutes of peer Q&A as part of a 6-minute presentation slot. The Q&A is where most students lose points, not because they don't know their material, but because they meet a question they haven't rehearsed and freeze. Today fixes that. The Q&A Bank in the assessment package has six question categories that peers will draw from in Block 10. By the end of today, you've rehearsed against all six.
The six categories: (1) Clarification: "What did you mean when you said…?" (2) Evidence + source: "What's your source for that?" (3) Trade-off / comparative: "Why this exoplanet over Mars or TRAPPIST-1 e?" (4) Uncertainty: "What's your biggest unknown? How confident are you?" (5) Implementation / observation: "What would you point JWST at next?" (6) Devil's-advocate: "Convince me the science return justifies the cost." Different categories ask for different cognitive moves; vary your rehearsal across all six.
Today the Defense Practice Partner joins your toolkit. It role-plays a NASA evaluation committee member. It will ask you the question your study-partner won't: the one you've been avoiding. Use it for any category your Pair rehearsal didn't cover.
Before you start the work
Keep these open. They are the references for today's rehearsal.
Today's work: three structured phases
Not a choice: every student does every phase. Total 75 min across solo prep, pair rehearsal, and AI rehearsal.
Open your Class Notebook and type today's entry header as Heading 2:
A: Oct 9 | U1 B9 | NASA Stakeholder Q&A PrepB: Oct 12 | U1 B9 | NASA Stakeholder Q&A Prep
What you're submitting today
Three components of the Goldilocks Report lock today: exoplanet analysis (T/T), cross-case synthesis (T/T), and AI Documentation log (K/U). Plus your Q&A rehearsal notes for next class.
Your exoplanet's section of the Report: all 5–7 criteria evaluated, with MEETS / PARTIAL / FAILS / UNKNOWN verdicts and evidence cited. UNKNOWN is a legitimate verdict where the data don't exist. Trivial or partial analysis (1–2 criteria addressed) sits the T/T-exoplanet band low; see the component watch-list.
One paragraph naming a non-obvious pattern across Earth + Mars + your exoplanet. Examples: "both Mars and Proxima b face atmospheric retention problems, but for different reasons" or "the habitable zone criterion is a necessary but very weak filter." Non-obvious is the T/T 7-8 move.
Your complete AI Doc log to date: every substantive AI partner conversation that informed the Report, with OPVL on each AI response and the "one thing the AI got wrong" entry. If you used AI and this log isn't here, K/U-AI-Doc scores 1–2 Limited (the work isn't there to evaluate).
Submit via Google Classroom (link posted in August)Your 6 sketched answers from Solo prep (one per category) + identified strongest objection + planned response. One sentence per answer. Rehearsal data for Block 10; not strand-marked.
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.
Metacognitive: about your rehearsal process.
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.