Classroom Project to Teach History of Space Exploration

National Debate Coaches Association Board Chair and Glenbrook South H.S. Debate Director Tara Tate is passing along this idea for a classroom introduction to your students/debaters of the history of space exploration (next year’s debate topic is U.S. space policy):

History of Space Exploration Project

To get the students started, I am showing the following videos today from history.com and YouTube:

1 – History.com – First space flight video

2 – History.com – The Space Race video

3 – YouTube – History of NASA:

I will also be giving them some supplemental articles to read:

“History of Manned Space Exploration”

“A Brief History: Space Exploration

After showing the above videos, I will be passing out the attached handout to explain the assignment.

Day 1 is introducing unit, showing videos, and introducing assignment. Day 2 is allowing the students to work on creating their timeline – they will also declare their event. Day 3 is turn-in day for the timeline and the mini-presentations.