week one Pluto Debate

In reflecting about how I would use the latest discussion in the validity of weather or not Pluto is or isn’t a planet. I decided this discussion could be used as a spring board for a great debate or for writing prompt. The question I would pose to my students is; why are scientist so slow to define what exactly a planet is, and how does technology change their decision? I believe this is a great example of how we learn. As children we my have been told the moon was made of cheese. However, as we grew and become aware of the world around us we learned the moon is a satellite of our planet and is in fact not made of cheese. Why then did science debate the validity of Pluto? Much for the same reason we thought the moon was made of cheese. With the technology and the information we had 76 years ago this was a valid assumption. Now that we have improved technology we can make an evolving educated decision.