| |
Space—The
Final Frontier
Subject Area
This activity
is a cross-curricular extension within the Senior Curriculum for
the Space activity in the Transitional Years Volume of this Project.
The intention is to provide students with a forum within the humanities
in which to explore issues of technology. It has been designed
for the Senior curriculum, though it can also be used in the Transitional
Years classroom if the teacher thinks it is suitable for a particular
class. There is great flexibility built into this activity for
its use with relation to current events activity, an as introduction
to a unit on environmental or speculative fiction issues, or a
unit on the interdependence of the social environment.
Learning
Outcomes
Teaching,
learning and evaluation will focus on the student’s ability
to:
- Specify
the limitations and assumptions about our ability as humans
to function in a new environment;
- Integrate
the social and technical aspects of extraterrestrial existence;
- Critically
discuss the social implications of the Space Activity in a humanities
context.
Classroom
Development
The main
focus of this activity is to get students to explore and express
their feelings about our planet as a whole, the relationship of
our species to this planet, and how this impacts on our moving
from it into an artificial space environment.
General
issues for discussion are: leaving home, taking it with you, and
relocalizing a culture.
Students
can work in small groups or alone. The film Silent Running
should be shown first, if possible, to provide students with a
common frame of reference. Focus their attention on the attitudes
of the main characters, on the isolation of the protagonist and
the collective voice of the antagonists. The film can be encountered
within the context of traditional narrative studies (rising and
falling action, etc.).
In response
to the film or another text, you will have the opportunity to
discuss: “Living Without Greens.” What would it be like
to live without the green and growing things in our world? This
question would be easier for students who have lived in both urban
and rural contexts. Team up students into groups so that each
group has a mix of students with urban and rural experiences.
Have them develop a short presentation outlining the relative
merits of both environments. Students then, in their own writing,
outline what the gains and losses would be if they lived in the
artificial environment of an L5 or lunar colony. The High Frontier
will provide a background in space colonization. However, if this
sort of thing is new to you, consider having your students building
a resource base for you before the class by drawing on their personal
knowledge and research abilities in the local library or school
resource centre. Have students discuss this in groups and then
choose a response medium suitable to the requirements of the specific
course (written, oral, theatrical, visual responses should all
be considered).
The
following scenario and question is to accompany the text: “P
is for Piano.”
It is moving
day. Many of you have moved in your life. A growing number have
moved into a new culture and language. What do you take with you,
and what is lost in the move? Remember to consider both physical
and non-physical things. Have students discuss this in groups
and then choose a response medium suitable to the requirements
of the specific course (written, oral, theatrical, visual responses
should all be considered).
Timing
Depending
on the integration of this activity with the main space activity,
time will vary.
Resources
Clarke,
Arthur C. “If I Forget Thee, Oh Earth. . . .” Across
the Sea of Stars. New York: Harcourt, 1959. 63-67. It is found
in many other collections.
Herbert, George. “P is for Piano.” The Book of Frank
Herbert. New York: Berkley, 1981. 108-134.
Trumball, Dennis Dir. Silent Running. (1971). An ecological
story about an astronaut’s fight to save the last specimens
of the Earth’s vegetation from destruction. This movie is
a regular in most video stores and is often on TV.
O’Neill, Gerard K. The High Frontier: Human colonies in
space. Princeton: Space Studies Institute (SSI), 1989. O’Neill
is the Princeton physicist who designed L5 colonies. Text is available
from the SSI.
O’Neill, Gerard K. “Colonization at Lagrangia,”
Nature, August 23, 1974.
Stine, Harry G. Space Power. New York: Ace, 1981
Magazines such as Scientific American will probably contain
suitable information.
The best
resource is probably the science department of your school. Consider
discussing resource needs with members of the physics and chemistry
department.
What’s
this all about?
This activity
will let you explore and express your feelings about our planet
as a whole, the relationship of our species to this planet, and
how this impacts on our moving from it into an artificial space
environment.
How’s
this going to get done?
In groups
you will be discussing some of the following issues, and researching
others. You will have some sort of summative evaluation, so remember
that you’ll have to produce something at the end of this
activity.
- Some
of this stuff will be negotiable. As is often the case, your
teacher is more willing to accept changes if they are presented
before the class has started and are accompanied by useful alternatives.
- General
issues for discussion are: leaving home, taking it with you,
and relocalizing a culture.
- The following
question and scenario is to accompany the story “P is for
Piano.” It is moving day. Many of you have moved in your
life. A growing number of you have moved into a new culture
and language by coming to Canada, or even by moving from one
part of Canada to another (East to West, city to country). What
do you take with you, and what is lost in the move? Remember
to consider both physical and nonphysical things.
- In response
to the film Silent Running or another text, you will have the
opportunity to discuss: “Living Without Greens.” What
would it be like to live without the green and growing things
in our world? This question will be easier for those of you
who have lived in both urban and rural contexts.
- Then,
in you own writing (response journal, reading log), outline
what the gains and losses would be if you lived in the artificial
environment of an L5 or lunar colony. If you are not clear idea
how you would respond, then do some research (reading, talking,
listening) to gain some more background.
Auxiliary
questions
Your class
may wish to consider the following discussion topics.
- “School
in Space: What would your the new studies be if you were going
to school in an orbiting satellite (L5 colony) or lunar settlement?
(Emergency decompression and radiation drills would probably
be substituted for fire drills.)
- As we
degrade the environment of Earth, the question arises as to
whether we can degrade space.
|
|
