Inform students of key topics in the problem scenario by asking what, why, where, who, when, and how questions and ask students to think about how to present their final recommendations.

Prompt students to think about what they need know after reading the problem scenario. To find what they know, ask students to answer the following prompting questions.

• What am I studying?
• Why do I need to study this problem?
• Where is Kailua Bay located?
• Who studies the problem?
• When can I study the problem?
• How do I study this problem?

Teacher note:

1.      To diversify this activity you may add one or two additional roles related to the coral reefs problem. 

2.      To record brainstormed ideas, you may want to use a table summarizing what students know (See Activity Sheet: What do I know about the Problem? (PS-2)) about problem scenario.

At this point, it is appropriate to motivate students and prompt their thinking about the final project they will build during KaAMS. Describe the KaAMS final report:

• Students will work in groups and role-play different types of airborne mission scientists while planning an airborne remote sensing mission ultimately gathering and analyzing real NASA remote sensing data. 
• At the end of their scientific exploration students will develop a final product that describes the decision-making and problem solving they utilized as well as their findings. 

·         Students will work in groups throughout the unit to create their final project.

Explain to students that they will now participate in a short activity to explore different perspectives that can be inferred from the problem scenario

Sample students responses:

• Evaluation of the state of coral reefs in the Kailua Bay
• It is an mission request from a Government Agency Kailua Bay is on the island of Oahu in Hawaii.
• Airborne mission scientists.
• Based on available airborne remote sensing data, we can evaluate the state of coral reefs in the Kailua Bay.