A common element of many active learning exercises is a brief quiz with questions related to the learning topic. The purpose is not to get as many points as possible, but for the team to warm up and begin thinking about the topic together.

This exercise will help you begin to see how you can solve problems together as a team without a lot of detailed directions, even when each individual member may feel a bit lost.

Take the survey while discussing the questions and sharing information with your teammates. Your instructor will have each team share their opinions, along with any reasoning the team used to make a guess.

The Voyager 1 spacecraft is shown in space, with a gray metal dinner plate-like dish and extending instruments and antennae.
Voyager 1, Image credit: JPL/NASA
  1. When was Pluto’s designation changed from a planet to a dwarf planet?
    • 1990
    • 1972
    • 1995
    • 2006
    • 2000
  2. How many named dwarf planets are in the Solar System?
    • 5
    • 10
    • 15
    • hundreds
    • thousands
  3. Voyager 1 launched in 1977 and imaged the first of the outer planets a couple years later. Of the options below, which is closest to how far away Voyager 1 is from the Sun?
    • just past Jupiter
    • 1 AU (Astronomical Unit, the distance from the Sun to the Earth)
    • 10 AU
    • 100 AU
    • 1000 AU
  4. What is our cosmic address?
    • Earth, Inner Solar System, Orion Nebula, Milky Way, Local Group
    • Earth, Solar Nebula, Local Cluster, Milky Way Galaxy, Virgo Group
    • Earth, Solar System, Andromeda Galaxy, Virgo Cluster, Laniakea Super Cluster
    • Earth, Solar System, Milky Way Galaxy, Local Group, Laniakea Super Cluster
    • Earth, Solar System, Local Cluster, Milky Way, Virgo Group
  5. Free response: How old is the Universe? How old is Earth?