Are you an alien?

Lesson 1 of 4: Lesson Plan: Brave new worlds?

Objectives of the lesson

• To consider some possible future consequences of space exploration for other life forms and their environments.
• To see different points of view and develop empathic skills.

Lesson Outcomes 

By the end of this lesson some pupils will:

• Find out facts about Titan on a website and use them to construct a spider diagram
• Formulate their own questions
• Take part in an ethical debate and offer a personal viewpoint

Some will only:

• Find information about Titan on a website
• Support one side in a debate
• See things from another point of view

Others will also:

• Formulate questions to support a point of view
• Take an active part in an ethical debate and offer a reasoned point of view
• Consider some far-reaching consequences of space exploration

Key words for this lesson

Titan, space-exploration, micro-organism, terraform

Lesson Outcomes (Pupil friendly)

By the end of this lesson I will be able to ….see that other planets and moons and any life-forms on them could be affected by human space exploration.

Resource

• Poster of the Solar System
• Pupil Resources 1 and 2

In the following lesson plan, information for the teacher is given in italic text. Suggestions for the teacher to address pupils directly are given in normal text.

Introduction / Starter activity / first thoughts

Display a poster of our Solar System. Locate Saturn. Inform pupils that Saturn has 34 moons, and that one of them, called Titan, is interesting enough for a space mission to have been launched in 1998.

In this lesson and the next we are going to think about the exploration of space, asking, in particular:-

• What humans might want to get out of it; (look for new places to live; the excitement of exploration; new wealth from mining minerals and other resources on other planets; new inventions which could also be used on Earth; new scientific data; to find out more about how our own planet evolved; feelings of awe and wonder).
• How other planets (and moons) may be affected or changed by what we do;
• Whether we should be thinking more deeply and questioning what we are doing and what the consequences of our actions could be.

Main Activities

Activity 1

Display prominently the headline (taken from an article in The Times 16.1.05): 

                      THE BABY IS ALIVE!

Tell pupils they are going to find out what that headline is about by finding the right answers to match some questions. The answers are on Pupil Resource 1 which should be displayed or distributed. As a whole group pupils then select sentences in response to your questions. Pupils then, in pairs, write down the meaning of the headline, ‘The Baby is Alive!’  (The newspaper was reporting the space scientists’ excitement when they found out that the space probe had landed safely.) More able pupils may be given the opportunity to devise the questions for themselves.

Questions to ask:

• Who said this and where were they?
• When did they say it?
• What is ‘the baby’?
• Where had ‘the baby’ been sent to?
• Why was it sent?
• How long had it taken?
• How did they know it was safe?

Activity 2

This is a computer based activity. Less able may click on the ‘Space Cadets’ button for a simpler text. Construct a spider diagram of what pupils now know about Titan. If more convenient this ICT activity could be carried out prior to the main lesson.

Go to the British National Space Centre site at:

BNSC - Learning Zone
Click on ‘Space Explorers’ button.
Find out facts about Titan with astronaut Cosmo.
Complete the quiz.
Play the game ‘Titan Lander’.
Extension for more able: find more facts about Titan on:

http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/planets/profile.cfm?Object=Titan

Activity 3

Read to pupils Pupil Resource 2: ‘Dawn’s Plea’. Allow pupils to feed back their initial responses.

Then instigate a general discussion based on the following prompts:

• The micro-organism has no name. Why has she asked us to call her Dawn? (Because for her kind, life is just beginning, just as dawn comes at the beginning of each new day.)
• Why is Dawn worried?
• Dawn talks of a Great Judge in a Universal Court of Law. What do judges do in a law court? (They listen to both sides of the argument and then they pass judgement or sentence.)

Debate

Ask for two pupils to volunteer as spokespeople for Dawn, and two volunteers as spokespeople for humans. Another volunteer should be the Great Judge. Other pupils may be divided to prompt and support each side in the debate. The question to debate is:

SHOULD HUMANS BE ALLOWED TO EXPERIMENT WITH OR CHANGE TITAN?

This should encourage pupils to formulate questions and viewpoints which have so far not been raised or expressed.

Finally the Great Judge should deliver her/his verdict.

Plenary / last thoughts

This debate has raised the question: 

IF SOMETHING IS GOOD FOR HUMANS, AND THEY WANT TO DO IT, IS THAT MORE IMPORTANT THAN ANYTHING ELSE?

Should we put our own good, and our own future, before the future of other species?

Do you think we should live at peace with other species on this planet before we go investigating life on other planets? Will we take our problems on this planet with us wherever we go?

Or should we try to work at getting our own planet right, and at the same time continue with space exploration?

Billions of pounds have been spent on space exploration so far. Is it worth it? What might a child in a poor country where many people die of malaria each year say?

What might a dodo, a bird hunted to extinction, say if it could have a voice?

Differentiation / Extension

Watch the film E.T. where an extra-terrestrial biologist becomes marooned on Earth. What is E.T.’s character? How are scientists portrayed? How do the children differ from the adults in their acceptance of E.T.? Do you think children find it easier to cope with difference? Did you feel emotional at the end? If so, why do you think this was?

In Genesis, the first book of the Bible, an ancient creation story describes how God created a Garden of Eden into which the first humans, Adam and Eve were placed (see Unit 8: Lesson 2). 

Imagine that God has created a Garden of Eden for Dawn on Titan. Can you describe and/or draw it? Think of colours. Saturn would be large in the sky; the Sun further away than on Earth. There would be lots of other moons in the sky.

Assessment

Describe the differences between:

a)     the feelings of the space scientists at the European Space Agency;

b)     the feelings of the micro-organism on Titan.

This will indicate pupils’ ability to see different points of view and to empathise.

Notes to teacher

In this lesson, pupils see the tension between human excitement at completing a new stage in human exploration (landing a probe on Titan, one of Saturn’s moons)

and the future effects it could have on Titan as seen from the point of view of an imaginary micro-organism. 

In the Introduction pupils are introduced to the idea that there are ethical questions concerning human space exploration.

In Activity 1 pupils match questions and answers to work out the background to a newspaper headline, ‘The baby is alive!’ which refers to a space probe landing safely on Titan in January 2005.

Activity 2 begins with an internet activity through which pupils locate information about Titan. They then contribute to the creation of a spider diagram using their knowledge.

In Activity 3 pupils listen to ‘Dawn’s Plea’ in which an imaginary micro-organism explains her misgivings. They engage in debate, with reference to the views of  both humans and micro-organisms.

In the Plenary, pupils consider whether human desires should or should not over-ride the possible needs of other life-forms. 

Duration                        1 hour 10 minutes.

Year Group                    Y4, 5 and 6 with teacher differentiation