NASA/Explorer Project

Mrs. Gruber’ Talac Page

NASA/Explorer Project

 

By

Tracy Gruber

Introduction/ Task/ Resources/ Process/ Evaluation/ Conclusion

 

Introduction

The president of NASA has expressed some concerns he has about Americans continuing to explore outer space. He has requested that we hire students from 10 classrooms from each state in the United States to research and present their stand on this issue at Cape Canaveral in February. Your class is one of the ten in the state of Michigan that has been hired.

The Task

You need to research past explorers such as Christopher Columbus and the founders of European colonies in the Americans. In your research you will be looking at the ways these explorers used to fund, navigate, travel, etc. their expeditions as well as what happened when they found new land. How did they establish a colony, what did they do if people were already living on the land? What were the problems they faced? Were the discoveries worthwhile? Make sure you

Use Core Democratic Values to support your stand on these issues.

Your partner and you will conduct your presentation using Power Point. You are free to use the digital camera, scanner, video camera, etc. to help with your presentation.

Resources

You will use your social studies textbook, the Internet, encyclopedias, Encarta, research books from the library, handouts from your teacher, etc. to find your information and begin planning your presentation.

The Process

  1. Begin researching the list of items.
  2. As you read about the following people or items, think about whether your partner and you agree with what they did or the outcomes of their actions.
  3. As you research and read information, start to develop a stand either for or against space explorations.
  4. Look for research that supports your stand.

5. Be ready to support your stand with core democratic values.

6. After you have gathered all your information, you will need to start organizing

your research, and analyzing your information to present in a Power Point

presentation.

  1. On the date of your presentation, your partner and you will need to dress

appropriately for the presentation. You should have note cards to help you with

your presentation.

Tips

  1. Everything that you discuss in your presentation should include reasons that support

    2. your stand. Using the core democratic values will strongly help support your stand.

    Remember…you want to convince the president of NASA why we should or should

    not continue exploring space.

  2. A true Power Point presentation will include many pictures and a small amount of

    3. words on your slides. You will be talking to your audience (using index cards if you

    need them) while showing your slides. This is almost like a speech that you are

    giving using Power Point for your visuals.

  3. If you find a CD with background music that relates to your topic/presentation,

you can try using that during your presentation also. Maybe some Star Wars

or Star Trek music?????

Terms

  1. Christopher Columbus
  2. Columbian Exchange
  3. Hernando Cortes
  4. Encomiendas
  5. Roanoke Islands
  6. Northwest Passage
  7. Magellan
  8. Jamestown Colony
  9. Plymouth Colony
  10. Mayflower Compact
  11. John Smith
  12. colony
  13. conquistador
  14. Henry Hudson

 

Questions to think about:

  1. How would America be different if these colonizations/explorations did not occur?
  2. Compare the early colonizations and explorations to space explorations today?
  3. Will we want to colonize if we find life on another planet?
  4. What things might happen similar to past history?

Evaluation

Points Possible

1. Technology used 20

2. Slide presentation 25

3. Creativity 15

4. Loud and clear voices 10

5. Eye contact 10

6. Use of time working on project 10

7. Prepared 10

8. Took a stand 20

9. Supported stand 20

10.Core democratic values used 20

11.Vocabulary 15

12.Flow 15

13.Persuasive 20

14.Accuracy of information 20

15.Amount of information 20

250 Points Possible

 

Conclusion

After completing this project you will have become more familiar with Power

Point and technology. You will have gained more experience researching information.

You will have analyzed past information, become more familiar with the core

democratic values and using them to support a stand, and learned about past

explorers, such as Christopher Columbus and Henry Hudson.