Acknowledgements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . ix
How to Use This Guide . . . . . 1
Lesson Format . . . . . . . . . 1
Unit Overview . . . . . . 1
Pre-unit Instructions. . . . . . . 2
Building a Wind Tunnel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
“Layers of the Atmosphere” Chart. . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
National Education Standards. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
Science – National Research Council of the National Academy of Sciences. . . . . . . . . . 9
Mathematics – National Council of Teachers of Mathematics. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
Geography – National Council for Geographic Education. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
Language Arts – National Council of Teachers of English. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
Technology – International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) . . . . . . . . . . 13
International Technology Education Association (ITEA). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
Lessons 1-20
Lesson 1 – Why Reach for the Stars?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
• Students listen to a fictional story about space travel, answer the question, “Why reach
for the stars?” begin a KWL (What We Know, What We Want to Know, What We Learned)
chart, and identify the characteristics of the five layers of the Earth’s atmosphere.
Lesson 2 – How Far Up Can We Go?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
• Students research an aircraft or spacecraft and identify the layer of the atmosphere
in which it operates, construct a model of the layers of the Earth’s atmosphere
and graph the location in which certain National Aeronautics and Space Administration
(NASA) vehicles operate, recognize the need for rockets when traveling in the upper
layers of the Earth’s atmosphere and above, and graph the layers of the atmosphere.
Solar System Pop-up Book . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
• This is an optional activity for classes with no prior teaching on the solar system.
Students research a celestial body in the solar system, create a page featuring a written
paragraph and illustrations on the research, and present their information to the class.
Lesson 3 – Preparing for the Race . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
• Students make comparisons between the first United States’ (U.S.) aircraft and
spacecraft and current aircraft and spacecraft, recognize that the space race was
between the U.S. and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR), review their
knowledge of space exploration, discuss their ideas about future space travel, and
begin their designs of the Orion crew exploration vehicle and the Altair lunar lander.
• The Timeline Date Sheet chronicles important events and dates beginning with
the years of the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) through the
establishment of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and
continuing with NASA’s achievements through the space race to the present
Lesson 4 – The Race Begins. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91
• Students construct a wind tunnel, make paper airplanes to be tested in the wind tunnel,
and read and discuss a selection to understand how the space race began.
Lesson 5 – Humankind in Space. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115
• Students read a selection about the early U.S. space programs of Mercury and Gemini,
begin a timeline showing NACA’s achievements and the space race between the U.S.
and the USSR, test their paper airplanes in a wind tunnel, and prepare to compete in
a paper airplane contest.
and 15 more lessons plans/activities
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