Exploring the Moon -- Background and Activities for the Classroom

Article submitted by Jackie Allen, SN Education

Article developed by the University of Hawaii team led by G. Jeffery Taylor, Linda Martel, and a team of teachers

Exploring the Moon --
a Teacher's Guide with activities for Earth and Space Science

1997 NASA publication Cat. number EG-1991-10-166-HQ

Share the legacy of the astounding accomplishments of the Apollo Program in the classroom. Exploring the Moon is a set of seventeen activities appropriate for a wide variety of classrooms from upper elementary to early college. It is designed to accompany a Lunar Sample Disk but may also be used without the disk.* The background material assists the teacher by telling the story of the Moon's geological history and how scientists try to decipher that story. It is also useful as background reading for a special student project. A set of thirty-six 35-mm slides accompanies each disk. The slide set has detailed captions.

Exploring the Moon activities are divided into three units: Pre-Apollo, Learning from Apollo, and The Future. These correspond roughly to exercises designed for use before the Lunar Sample Disk arrives in the classroom (Pre-Apollo), while the disk is there (Learning from Apollo), and after the teacher returns the disk to NASA (The Future).

Classroom activities promote problem solving, communication skills, and teamwork. Each activity consists of teacher pages and reproducible student sheets. Check out this useful resource for sharing planetary science with students.

How to get the Exploring the Moon Activities Guide and a slide set.

Exploring The Moon Slide Set -- http://spacelink.nasa.gov/
Instructional.Materials/NASA.Educational.Products
/Exploring.the.Moon.Slide.Set/.index.html

PDF version -- https://ares.jsc.nasa.gov/
outreach/Activities/ExpMoon/ExpMoon.htm

or http://spacelink.nasa.gov/products/
Exploring.the.Moon/.index.html

Hard copy -- may be obtained from NASA Educator Resource Centers located at all NASA centers. Or you may contact:

NASA CORE
Lorain County Joint Vocational School
15181 Route 58 South
Oberlin, OH 44074
Phone 440-774-1051, Ext. 249 or 293
Fax 440-774-2144
e-mail: nasaco@leeca.esu.k12.oh.us
home page: http://spacelink.nasa.gov/CORE

* You may borrow a Lunar Disk from the NASA center closest to you, contact them for security requirements. Students can examine six samples of the Moon brought to Earth by the Apollo astronauts. The samples, encased in a Lucite disk, are easily used in the classroom. A slide set and Exploring the Moon activities guide will both come with the disk.