The topic of extraterrestial life fits into the Earth in Space section of GCSE Science and provides an excellent topic for individual project work and presentations. All the way through Key Stages 3 and 4, the ideas fit into the space sections and also into trying to define what is meant by life.
A good group project would be to get students to design the key components we would need to send out about our planet to any other civilization in the same vein as Carl Sagan’s information on the Voyager Spacecraft. For example, we’re sending Damien Hirst and Blur up on Beagle to give any little green men out there an impression of life on Earth!
Becky Parker