Crashed on the Moon
Lesson Plan #: AELP- SPA0005
index - stem initiative - cati - spa0005
An Educator's Reference Desk Lesson Plan
Author: Claudia Todd-Sonnichsen
School or Affiliation: Ponca City School District, Ponca City, OK
Endorsed by: These lesson plans are the result of the work of the
teachers who have attended the Columbia Education Center's Summer Workshop.
CEC is a consortium of teacher from 14 western states dedicated to improving
the quality of education in the rural, western, United States, and
particularly the quality of math and science Education. CEC uses Big Sky
Telegraph as the hub of their telecommunications network that allows the
participating teachers to stay in contact with their trainers and peers that
they have met at the Workshops.
Date: May 1994
Grade
Level(s):
7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12
Subject(s):
Overview: This is a group activity that I found about 15 years ago. I use
it in Earth-Space Science to make the differences between the environments on
the earth and the moon more relevant, and to set the stage for our study of
the basic environmental differences between the earth and other planets.
Purpose: Students memorize the
environmental differences among the planets but usually do not develop a feel
for how they might affect life in that environment. This lesson stimulates
student thinking about what their life might be like on the moon and sets the
stage for a brief study of the environments on other planets.
Objectives: Students will be able
to:
- Compare and contrast the environments of our moon and the
earth.
- Give practical examples of how these differences might
affect one's daily activities on our moon.
Materials:
- pencils
- paper
- list of survival equipment and answer key (see Internet
sites below)
Activities
and Procedures:
- The teacher or students who have done the necessary research
compare and contrast, both verbally and in writing, some of the major
environmental differences between the earth and our moon.
Examples of some major factors:
- Atmospheric Pressure
- Temperature
- Weather
- Gravity
- Organisms
- Oxygen available
- Crystal activity--quakes, volcanoes, movement
- Examples are solicited from other students about how these
differences might affect daily activities on our moon from the class.
- Students are then divided into groups. Each group is the
crew on a spaceship that is about to crash on the moon.
- (Students usually read a prepared script describing their
"crash" on the moon. One group of juniors and seniors took
this activity on as a special project and worked up a skit, complete
with a space ship, background music, black light, and a narrator.)
- Following the crash, an announcement is made that the
spaceship is disabled, the radio is broken, and nearest base is 50 km.
away. Each group must get to the base with no outside help.
- Their task is to decide as a group which emergency supplies
from their disabled spaceship to take with them. They are to list the
supplies in order of priority and state why they chose each item. Below
is a partial list that is usually given:
- First Aid Kit
- Water
- Freeze dried food
- 50 feet of rope
- Parachute
- Inflatable Raft
- Small backpack Stove
- Stove Fuel
- Matches
- Standard backpack tent
- Sleeping Bags
- Pressure Suits
- Extra oxygen cylinders compatible with pressure suits
- Compass
- Map of Moon
- Suit repair kit
- Flashlight
- Afterwards each group reports on their list and why they
chose each item.
Tying it all
Together:
- The teacher or the students in charge discuss the
"official list" and why the items were prioritized as they
were. There are no real right and wrong answers although some items
would obviously be more valuable on the moon in an emergency.
- Students compare and contrast the environmental differences
found on the earth and the moon on paper. They give examples of how each
difference might affect their life if they were living on the moon.
- The teacher uses this activity to introduce the study of the
environments of the other planets.
Useful Internet Resources:
* Surviving a Lunar Crash - Activity Sheet
http://www.nat.k12.la.us/wf/crash.jpg
* Surviving
a Lunar Crash - Answer Key
http://www.nat.k12.la.us/wf/crash2.jpg
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