| Teaching Suggestion :
The History of Space Exploration |
| Associated
Subject : Primary General Studies |
| Level
: Primary six |
| Unit :
Universe and Nature |
| Topic
: Space Exploration |
| Activity
Name : The History of Space Exploration |
| Suggested
Teaching Periods : One to two |
Objectives
:
|
Students should be able to
- Classify the people and things involved in space exploration
-
Understand the milestones in the history of space exploration
|
|
Concepts
:
| 1. |
Category |
Type |
Content |
No. of cards |
|
Apace Heroes |
Scientists |
People who initiated and
worked on the space exploration projects |
4 |
|
|
Astronauts |
People
who entered space in spacecrafts |
7 |
|
|
Animals |
Animals
which are used to study the environmental conditions in
space |
2 |
|
Launch
Vehicles |
Experimental
Rockets |
For
experimental purposes only |
2 |
|
|
Rocket
Launchers |
Can
launch one or more satellites or spacecrafts into space.
For single use only |
10 |
|
|
Space
Shuttles |
A kind of launch vehicles for multiple use (but the solid fuel booster, etc can only be used once. The shuttles will circle the Earth and land like a plane.) |
1 |
|
Artificial
Satellites |
Artificial
Satellites |
Man-made
objects which orbit the Earth |
10 |
|
|
Earth
Orbital Spacecrafts |
Spacecrafts
orbiting the Earth, a type of artificial satellite |
1 |
|
|
Space
Stations |
Structures
in space which orbit the Earth and allow a number of
spacecrafts to park |
2 |
|
Space
Probes |
Lunar
Spacecrafts |
Transport
vehicles that can carry man to other celestial objects
(Moon) |
1 |
|
|
Space
Probes |
Unmanned
vehicles that can be controlled remotely by scientists on
Earth |
10 |
|
|
Rovers |
Vehicles
that can roam on the surface of other celestial objects.
Some are manned while others are remotely controlled |
2 |
|
| 2. |
Category |
Type |
Content |
No. of cards |
|
1903-1956 |
From
theory to testing |
1-4,
14-15 |
6 |
|
1957-1968 |
Artificial
satellites being launched and put in use |
5-10,
16-22, 27-33, 40 |
21 |
|
1969-1980 |
Moon
landing and planetary exploration |
11,
23-25, 34-37, 41-49 |
17 |
|
1981-present |
Launch
of space shuttle and after |
12-13,
26, 38-39, 50-52 |
8 |
|
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|
Preparation
:
Teacher
-
Space Pioneers Cards (available in the "Space Race" board game)
|
|
Procedures
:
-
Distribute all the cards to students. Each student can have more than one card.
-
Ask students to name the categories of cards they get and tell the special features of the cards belonged to the same group. (Note the differences in the appearance of rockets, spacecrafts and space probes)
-
Ask students who get the cards of years of 1903 to 1956 to line up in chronological order and read out the achievements in a particular year. The teacher can provide supplementary information if necessary and ask students to compare which achievement they would consider more significant.
-
Repeat activities 3 and 4 for other periods.
-
Ask students to collect information on space exploration from newsletters and journals and categorize them. (e.g. rockets, artificial satellites, scientists and their discoveries, astronauts, spacecrafts and space probes)
-
Ask students to design the future space exploration plans.
-
Conclude the achievements, changes and future development of space exploration.
-
Ask students to prepare a workbook on the information collected. A competition based on the amount of information collected can also be organized. (Ask students not to include information about UFOs and science fictions or movies)
¡@ |
|
|
Evaluation : Check if the students can categorize and describe the information correctly.
|
|
Others : It is not necessary to describe the explorations in depth as this can be done in other lessons.
|
