Teacher's Guide for ODYSSEY^TM Space

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"Back to the Future - 2001: A Space Odyssey," pg. 6

• This article examines how well Stanley Kubrick's 1968 film classic predicted travel, communication, and robotics today. The movie missed on e-mail and PalmPilots, and the alien and machine intelligences it featured have yet to turn up.
• Extrapolation, Critical Thinking

• Robots have come a long way since the menacing HAL in 2001: A Space Odyssey. Today's robots clean hazardous wastes, perform surgery, pilot airplanes, and play chess. The iRobot-LE, Aibo, avatars, and robotic body parts foreshadow life in the century to come. A sidebar reminds readers that robots have "off" switches - or do they?
• Vocabulary, Application

• Today, some scientists believe that life could exist in the Jovian system - especially on Europa, Jupiter's ice-covered moon. NASA plans to launch a probe to Europa.
• Inductive Reasoning, Hypothesis Testing

• Might life exist on Mars? Evidence of water there comes from Global Surveyor, now orbiting the planet. One sidebar describes the next generation of Mars-bound robots. A second speculates on the kinds of extremophiles that might thrive on Mars.
• Hypothesis Formation, Design and Technology

• The SETI Institute in California searches for signs of extraterrestrial intelligence. ODYSSEY^TM asks a SETI scientist about the newest developments in the hunt.
• Deductive Reasoning, Vocabulary

• Are you a good space walker? Can you add as you go? Use your calculating skills to find your way around this alien ship.
• Mental Math, Following Directions

• Solar sails might someday power long-duration space flights when refueling isn't practical. The challenge is to get them off the ground. A sidebar highlights a student's research on solar sailing.
• Applications, Extrapolations

• ODYSSEY^TM challenges readers to write a story about the year 2100.
• Creative Thinking, Prediction

• ODYSSEY^TM asks Buzz Aldrin about future space exploration and technology.
• Applications, Science and Society

• The X-PRIZE Foundation sponsors a rocket competition to stimulate middle school students' interest in aerospace design. The Eggs Prize challenges students to launch a water-rocket carrying a raw chicken egg. A sidebar shows how one participant met the challenge.
• Application, Problem-Solving

• The January sky is full of bright stars and constellations. The Quadrantid meteor shower on January 3 emerges from a constellation that no longer officially exists. Mars rises in the morning early in the month and is visible in the evening later on. Other evening planets include Mercury, Venus, Jupiter, Saturn, and Neptune.
• Observation, Following Directions

• ODYSSEY^TM joins the Arts Alliance Center at Clear Lake in Houston, Texas, to sponsor the "Junior" Division of the Science and Technology Digital Art Competition. One of the winning entries will grace ODYSSEY^TM's cover next January.
• Creative Design and Execution

1. Ask students to share their childhood ideas of what the year 2000 was going to be like. How were they accurate? How were they wrong? Compile a class list of predictions for the year 2050. On what basis can those predictions be made?
2. Make a list of students' favorite science-fiction movies. Ask them to tell what they learned from these films about life on other planets, robots, Mars, or alien intelligence. Save the lists and compare them with facts presented in this issue.

Pg. 8 - "Robots Rise Up . . . and Take Over?"

• Talk It Over:
  1. Webster's New World Dictionary defines a robot as "any manlike mechanical being." Industries define robots as machines that can be programmed to perform varied functions. How useful are these definitions? Can the class arrive at a better one?
  2. Will robots "take over" from humans someday? What features of robots make such a revolt possible or impossible?
• Connections:
  1. Creative Writing: Research the history of robots back to Karel Capek's 1921 play "R.U.R.," in which the term was first used. Check for uses in films as well, beginning with the silent movie Metropolis in 1926. Create a robot time line, showing how images, designs, and devices have changed over time. Include photos and drawings when you can.
  2. Design: Create a brochure to advertise one of the robots described in the article (iRobot-LE, an avatar, Aibo, or My Real Baby). If audio- or video-recording equipment is available, make a 60-second radio or TV commercial instead.
  3. Creative Writing: Many films and stories feature a robot that "comes to life." Write a scene from such a story, beginning at the point when the robot first realizes that it can think and act for itself. Read the short story "Hilda" by H.B. Hickey, a 1952 story reprinted in 50 Short Science Fiction Tales (Collier Books) and several other anthologies. Discuss the story and compare it with your own.
• Student Assessment:
  1. Write an essay comparing the robots described in the article. Use their similarities to develop a working definition of the word "robot."
  2. Will people in the future want robotic replacement parts for their bodies? Answer that question for yourself, then write and deliver a speech to convince others that you are right.

pg. 24 - "Sailing the Oceans of Space"

• Talk It Over:
  1. What is solar sailing? How is it similar to sailing on water? How is it different? If solar cells became practical, what factors might limit solar sailing's use or benefits?
  2. What special conditions would need to be met if people went on a solar-sailing journey of several hundred years? Would students in the class be willing to go on such a journey? Would they want to visit to Mars if the trip took nearly two years?
• Connections:
  1. Art: Draw a scene in space from a time when solar-sailing vessels become commonplace. Include at least two schematic diagrams, showing how a space station or deep-space exploration ship might be designed.
  2. History: How might civilization be different today if ocean sailing had never been developed? Gather your speculations into a "What If?" book of alternative history.
  3. Language Arts: Write entries in the journal of a young person taking a solar-sailing journey to Jupiter and back. Select several different times during the trip to share with "Dear Diary."
• Student Assessment:
  1. In a brief essay, describe the problems involved in the development of solar-sail technology. Which difficulties have already been overcome, and which remain?
  2. Prepare (and present) a speech to a NASA funding committee, asking for financial support for development of solar sails. Sell the committee on the advantages of the project as you see them.

"When asked about life in the future,"

Class Project: Write e-mails home from Mars Base Camp in the year 2050. Include details of living conditions, technology, and work to make your communications as realistic as possible. Compile the e-mails and display with a poster drawing of the Mars facility.

"The wise woman quietly said,"

Large Group Activity: Break the class into three groups. Ask each to write and illustrate articles for a newspaper or to prepare a 15-minute newscast for January 1, 2101. Let teams work in private, then present their final product to the class. Look for similarities and differences in the three visions of the future. Discuss the underlying assumptions each team used in its conception.

" 'If you were meant to live in the past,"

Community Connection: Conduct a survey of people's beliefs about extraterrestrial life and UFOs. Use statistical techniques to analyze data and test conclusions. [For help, see Painless Science Projects by Faith Hickman Brynie (Barron's, 1998).] Write an article about your findings for your local newspaper.

"You would have eyes in the back of your head.' "

Collaborative Research / Presentation: Divide the class into investigative teams to research the use of robots in medicine, industry, business, entertainment, defense, and space exploration. Ask each group to write a report and present their findings to the class (and perhaps to other classes as well). Consider sponsoring a "Robotics Fair" for your school.

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Updated: 11/21/09 05:18 pm
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