Overview
"Traveling to the most forbidding environment known to man, twelve courageous men stepped out of their tiny space craft and onto another world. They found blistering sunshine and subzero shadows, an airless environment with a savage landscape. And with those steps, the whole history of exploration was written" (Pyle 1005).
This curriculum unit, The Science and Technology of the Apollo Space Program is written for 5 th Grade students in English as a Second Language (ESL) class. The unit could be adapted for the mainstreamed students. I will teach the students major events in the history and the science involved in the Apollo Space Program. These major events in the Space Program took place from 1963-1972. The unit will expose ESL students to science content through concrete examples and help them to make connections among the science disciplines. Not only will the ESL students demonstrate an understanding of the history of the Apollo Space Program but reading nonfiction books will increase their vocabulary, develop their fluency and improve their sentence structure.
For second language learners, the unit will help students increase their English proficiency skills in listening, speaking, reading and writing. It will be designed to prepare them to participate in the mainstreamed content area instruction. Science is the particular content area. I will teach this topic by using visual aids from NASA, researching through the Internet, and doing hands on activities or experiments.
There were six missions that explored the Moon and collected scientific data. These were the Apollos 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16 and 17. These missions, all of which but one landed on the Moon, collected an enormous amount of scientific data and almost 400 kilograms of rock samples. The missions that orbited to test the Command and Lunar Modules were Apollos 7 and 9. Apollos 8 and 10 orbited the Moon and returned pictures of the Moon's surface. Apollo 13 was unsuccessful with its lunar landing because of a malfunction, but it returned with pictures of the Moon's surface.
Students will learn that the Apollo Program was designed to send astronauts to the Moon and return them safely back to Earth. Students will learn from the unit that the Apollo Lunar Missions were as follows: Apollo 8, 10,11, 12,13,14,15,16, and 17. Apollo 8 was launched on December 21, 1968. It orbited the Moon and returned to Earth on December 27, 1968. Apollo 10 was launched on May 18, 1969. It orbited the Moon and returned to Earth on May 26, 1968. Apollo 11 was launched on July 16, 1968. It landed on the Moon at the Sea of Tranquillity and returned to Earth on July 20, 1969. Apollo 12 was launched on November 14, 1969 and landed on the Moon at the Oceans of Storms. It returned to Earth on November 24, 1969. After the Apollo 13 failure, all subsequent
Apollo missions successfully landed on the Moon and returned with soil and rock samples.
I teach ESL at Codwell Elementary School. Codwell Elementary School is one of Houston Independent School District (HISD) schools in the south of Houston. It is identified as a Theater and Fine Arts Magnet School from Pre K - 5 th Grade. The students are predominantly African American and five percent Hispanic. The students live in single homes and apartment buildings. Their scholastic achievement ranges from gifted and talented to below average. Due to time constraints and the complexity of the program, this Lunar Landing unit will be taught in about three weeks.
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