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Grade Level / 8th Grade / Unit Length / 2 weeks
Unit Overview / The interdisciplinary unit on Space Exploration will pose a question to the eighth grade students, “Are you ready to go where no man has gone before?” The familiar wording is found on Star Trek and students will relate how space exploration was a challenge to be conquered just as other challenges throughout history. The goal for the students in this unit is two-fold. Students will research key historical and contemporary figures in the fields of mathematics, science, history, and literature that became a change agent in one way or another. Students will be given the opportunity to research one of the twenty figures given to them to choose from. Valid information from credible websites will be accumulated and students will structure that information into a presentation that will be divided into three sections: an introduction, the story, and the message of change.
With the aid of an ETSU graduate student, students will learn the key components of storytelling. These key components will be part of the rubric used to evaluate the culminating event. Eighth grade students are used to writing a narrative; however, this unit will take narrative writing one step further with a historical fiction component. The four academic teachers will pick five key figures in the respective curricular areas for the students to choose between. These figures have, in one way or another, affected change because of something he/she did or is doing. The authors are Ray Bradbury, H.G. Wells, Isaac Asimov, Arthur C. Clark, and Jules Verne. The historical figures are Dred Scott, Harriet Tubman, Frederick Douglas, John Brown, Harriet Beecher Stowe, and Abraham Lincoln. The scientists/astronomers are Nicolas Copernicus, Sir Isaac Newton, Albert Einstein, Arthur Eddington, and Max Karl Ernst Ludwig Planck. The mathematicians are Euclid, Archimedes, David Hilbert, Carl Gauss, Leonhard Euler, and Galileo Galilei.
The curricular ties for this Space Exploration unit bring the theme of change together through each subject area. In history, students will learn about the change agents during the civil war time and throughout the racial tensions and slavery during that era. In science, students will use the formulas for gravity with balls of different weights/sizes as students study the astronomers who shaped the context of space exploration. In math, students will work with rotations, reflections, and translations in terms of angles, circles, perpendicular lines, parallel lines, and line segments. The tessellations the students will create as a visual representation for their explorers will implement the principles of congruence and specify a sequence of transformations that will carry a given figure onto another. In English, students will study the etymology of words by learning prefixes, roots, and suffixes. Students will also become familiar with various words that have varied origins and how those words have changed the English language.
This unit on Space Exploration ties in real world connections with the theme of change just as the curricular ties. Eighth grade students are not familiar with thinking about themselves as change agents. They relate the famous explorers to those who are long dead and those who made magnanimous sacrifices for a cause. This unit will help our eighth graders see that they can be change agents in their own world.
Unit Essential Question(s) / How can I clearly communicate through words and media real experiences or events relating to famous explorers in astronomy, pre-civil war history, and literacy?
How can I determine how the famous astronomers, historical figures, and authors changed the scope of their field and work?
Culminating Event / The culminating event for the unit Space Exploration will give the eighth grade students an opportunity to share information in the format of an historical fiction story. Students will learn from an East Tennessee State University storyteller what qualities make a good story. Students will also watch a storyteller as the hook for this unit. The academic teachers will have a list of twenty ‘change agents’ in the math, science, history, and English fields. Students will pick one of the various scientists, mathematicians, authors, and explorers and research his/her life, concentrating on one particular aspect when he/she became a ‘change agent.’ The story will give a general beginning of the life of their person, elaborate on the one event that illustrates how he/she made a change, and then tie up the story segment with the challenge that everyone has to ‘go where no man has gone before.’ The students will have five to seven minutes for their presentation. With their project days, students will be given the opportunity to research and practice. Students will also have constructed a tessellation on a poster to illustrate his/her ‘change agent’ and will explain the tessellation in either the beginning or the end of the presentation.
Day One: ½ Project Day – Going Where No Man Has Gone Before: An Introduction
Day Four: Full Project Day – Going Where No Man Has Gone Before: Learning From a STEM Professional
Day Five: Full Project Day – Going Where No Man Has Gone Before: Research Day
Day Eight: Full Project Day – Going Where No Man Has Gone Before: Finalize Story
Day Nine: Full Project Day – Going Where No Man Has Gone Before: Peer and Teacher Review
Day Ten: Full Project Day – Going Where No Man Has Gone Before: Storytelling Festival
Common Assessments / / STEM Project Rubric / Project Title: Space Exploration: To Go Where No Man Has Gone Before – Telling a Story
Student Name:
Date:
Advanced / Proficient / Needs Improvement
Math
Component / Student provides a tessellation that was designed to accompany their story that:
Represent transformations in the plane
Given a geometric figure and a rotation, reflection, or translation, draw the transformed figure
Use geometric descriptions of rigid motions to transform figures / Student provides a tessellation that was designed to accompany their story that:
Represent transformations in the plane
DOES NOT Give a geometric figure and a rotation, reflection, or translation, draw the transformed figure
DOES NOT use geometric descriptions of rigid motions to transform figures / Student provides a tessellation that was designed to accompany their story that:
DOES NOT represent transformations in the plane
DOES NOT given a geometric figure and a rotation, reflection, or translation, draw the transformed figure
DOES NOT use geometric descriptions of rigid motions to transform figures
Science Component / Students has 3 or more internet or print resources that have been evaluated with the Website Evaluation Rubric and scored a 12 or higher. / Students has 3 or more internet or print resources that have been evaluated with the Website Evaluation Rubric and scored a 7 or higher. / Students has less than 3 internet or print resources that have been evaluated with the Website Evaluation Rubric and scored a 7 or higher OR they have 3 sources that scored under 7.
Social Studies
Component / Student includes in his/her story how their individual was a “change-agent” and describes one instance on how their person positively contributed to the studies of math, science, English, or social studies therefore benefiting mankind in some way. / Student mentions in his/her presentation on why their person is remembered, but does not tell a story about that person’s contribution to the studies of math, science, English, or social studies. / Student fails to include a story on how their individual was a “change-agent” in either the studies of math, science, English, or social studies.
ELA Component / There are three distinct sections of the presentation (introduction, story, conclusion).
The presentation is between 5 – 7 minutes.
The introduction contains significant background information on the explorer.
The delivery of the story captures the attention of the audience with various strategies.
The story presents one event of the explorer’s life.
The presenter uses correct English. / There are two distinct sections of the presentation – lacking either the introduction, the story, or the conclusion)
The presentation is not of the correct length.
The introduction does not fully introduce the explorer.
The delivery of the story does not capture the attention of the audience. The story is not told with various strategies.
The story does not present an event in the explorer’s life.
The presenter has few grammatical errors. / There are no distinct sections of the presentation.
The presentation is not of the correct length.
The introduction does not give any introduction material on the explorer.
The delivery of the story is dull and mundane and is told without any attention getting strategies.
The story does not present an event in the explorer’s life.
The presenter has numerous grammatical errors.
Unit Objectives / I can clearly communicate through words and media real experiences or events relating to famous explorers in astronomy, pre-civil war history, and literacy.
I can determine how the famous astronomers, historical figures, and authors changed the scope of their field and work.
Strands (main ideas taught in unit)
ELA / Writing
Language
Speaking and Listening
Math / Congruence
Science / Embedded Inquiry
Forces in Nature
Social Studies / Tensions Rise Between North and South
Slavery Dominates Politics
Lincoln Is Elected and South Carolina Secedes
The Civil War Begins
Vocabulary
ELA / 1. Dramatization –to adapt for theatrical presentation
2. Dennotation– the dictionary, literal, meaning of a word
3. Connotation – the suggesting of a meaning of a word apart from the thing it explicitly names or describes
4. Etymology – the history or a linguistic form (a word) shown by tracing its development since its earliest recorded occurrence in the language where it is found
5. Elaboration – fullness of detail
Math / 1.Tessellation- moves each point in a figure or graph to another position.
2.Plane- a surface in which if any two points are chosen a straight line joining them lies wholly in that surface
3.Rigid motion- the action of taking an object and moving it to a different location without altering its shape or size
4.Congruent- having the same size and shape
5.Figure- a geometric form, as a line, triangle, or sphere, especially when considered as a set of points in space of a given number of dimensions
Science / 1. Gravity - The natural force of attraction between any two massive bodies, which is directly proportional to the product of their masses and inversely proportional to the square of the distance between them.
2. Force - an influence on a body or system, producing or tending to produce a change in movement or shape or other effects.
3. Orbit - The path of a celestial body or an artificial satellite as it revolves around another body.
4. Astronomical Unit - a unit of distance used in astronomy equal to the mean distance between the earth and the sun. 1 astronomical unit is equivalent to 1.495 × 1011metres or about 9.3 × 107 miles
5. Gravitational Constant - The constant in Newton's law of gravitation that yields the force one body exerts on another when multiplied by the product of the masses of the two bodies and divided by the square of the distance between them. It equals 6.67 × 10-11 m3kg-1s-2.
Social Studies / 1. Antebellum- time period in the South prior to the beginning of the Civil War
2. Border States- slave states that bordered states in which slavery was legal
3. Confederacy- a group of persons, parties, states, etc., united such as the Confederate States of America
4. Popular Sovereignty- a system in which issues are decided by the citizenry or voters
5. Secede- withdraw; to break away from
Key Questions
ELA / Math / Science / Social Studies
How can I use narrative techniques, such as dialogue, pacing description, and reflection, to develop experiences, events, and/or characters?
How can I use precise words and phrases, relevant descriptive details, and sensory language to capture the action and convey experiences and events?
How can I use common, grade appropriate Greek or Latin affixes and roots as clues to the meaning of a word?
How can I relate what I have learned regarding change through studying the life of a change agent to my own life? / Can I represent geometric transformations in the plane using software?
Given a geometric figure and a rotation, reflection, or translation, can I draw the transformed figure using graph paper and software?
Can I use geometric descriptions of rigid motions to transform figures and to predict the effect of a given rigid motion on a given figure? / How can I identify factors that influence the amount of gravitational force between objects?
How can I determine the relationship among the mass of objects, the distance between these objects, and the amount of gravitational attraction?
How can I illustrate how gravity controls the motion of objects in the solar system?
How can I recognize that gravity is the force that controls the motion of objects in the solar system?
How can I communicate scientific understanding using descriptions, explanations, and models?
How can I identify a faulty interpretation of data that is due to bias? / How can I summarize the effects of territorial expansion on the debate over slavery?
How can I explain how the issue of slavery led to political divisions in the United States?
How can I describe the reasons for and the responses to the secession of the Southern states?
How can I describe the strategies that both the North and South used to prepare for battle and winning the war?
How can I summarize ways the Civil War was considered a new kind of war?
Hook for Unit / The hook for this unit on Space Exploration is titled Stories: Legacies of Who we Are. This is a video segment found on ed.ted.com. The segment is part of Everyone Has a Story and fits well with the goal for this unit. Students will be exposed to a speaker by the name of AweleMakeba and become familiar with her story. The way she presents a segment of a story that proves the need for change agents will strengthen what we want the eighth graders to concentrate on as they research the various mathematicians, authors, scientists, and explorers. They will notice how the story is embraced around an introduction and a conclusion, just like we want them to do.

Informative Texts
Component / Students will be using informative texts on various websites to accumulate information on their mathematician, scientist, explorer, or author. Students will hone their skills of discernment of material by analyzing the validity of the information on the websites. Students will not be allowed to use the Wiki websites due to the questionable nature of the information found on particular websites. Students will gather information from the informative websites and organize the information into an understandable and accurate presentation.
Writing Closure / The writing closure for this unit will be a reflection piece. Each student will write a paragraph relating what he/she learned from at least one presentation regarding the explorer challenge to ‘go where no man has gone before.’ This reflection will allow students to relate the correlation between what was learned historically and what can be applied in their own lives. Students will be able to see the need for everyday people to become change agents as they relate how they can become change agents as well. Many eighth grade students already have goals and aspirations to make a difference and this reflection will substantiate their desires.
Materials Needed for Culminating Event / iPads
Laptops
Graph paper
Poster Maker Machine
Standards: Common Core Standards, Tennessee State Standards
ELA
Common Core Standards. / W 8.3 – Write narratives to develop real or imagined experiences or events using effective technique, relevant descriptive details, and well-structured event sequences.
W 8.3a – Engage and orient the reader by establishing a context and point of view and introducing a narrator and/or characters; organize an event sequence that unfold naturally and logically.
W 8.3b – Use narrative techniques, such as dialogue, pacing description, and reflection, to develop experiences, events, and/or characters.
W 8.3c – Use a variety of transition words, phrases, and clauses to convey sequence, signal shifts from one time frame or setting to another, and show the relationships among experiences and events.
W 8.3d – Use precise words and phrases, relevant descriptive details, and sensory language to capture the action and convey experiences and events.
W 8.3e – Provide a conclusion that follows from and reflects on the narrated experiences or events.
SL 8.6 – Adapt speech to a variety of contexts and tasks, demonstrating command for formal English when indicated or appropriate.
L 8.4b – Use common, grade appropriate Greek or Latin affixes and roots as clues to the meaning of a word.
Math
Common Core Standards. / CO.A.1Know precise definitions of angle, circle, perpendicular line, parallel line, and line segment, based on the undefined notions of point, line, distance along a line, and distance around a circular arc.
CO.A.2 Represent transformations in the plane using, e.g., transparencies and geometry software; describe transformations as functions that take points in the plane as inputs and give other points as outputs. Compare transformations that preserve distance and angle to those that do not (e.g., translation versus horizontal stretch).
CO.A.3 Given a rectangle, parallelogram, trapezoid, or regular polygon, describe the rotations and reflections that carry it onto itself.
CO.A.4 Develop definitions of rotations, reflections, and translations in terms of angles, circles, perpendicular lines, parallel lines, and line segments.
CO.A.5 Given a geometric figure and a rotation, reflection, or translation, draw the transformed figure using, e.g., graph paper, tracing paper, or geometry software. Specify a sequence of transformations that will carry a given figure onto another.
CO.A.6 Use geometric descriptions of rigid motions to transform figures and to predict the effect of a given rigid motion on a given figure; given two figures, use the definition of congruence in terms of rigid motions to decide if they are congruent.
CO.B.7 Use the definition of congruence in terms ofrigid motions to show that two triangles are congruent if and only if corresponding pairs of sides and corresponding pairs of angles are congruent.
CO.B.8 Explain how the criteria for triangle congruence (ASA, SAS, and SSS) follow from the definition of congruence in terms of rigid motions.
Science
Tennessee State Standards. / GLE 0807.Inq.5 Communicate scientific understanding using descriptions, explanations, and models.
GLE 0807.12.4 Identify factors that influence the amount of gravitational force between objects.
GLE 0807.12.5 Recognize that gravity is the force that controls the motion of objects in the solar system.
SPI 0807.Inq.5 Identify a faulty interpretation of data that is due to bias or experimental error.
SPI 0807.12.5 Determine the relationship among the mass of objects, the distance between these objects, and the amount of gravitational attraction.
SPI 0807.12.6 Illustrate how gravity controls the motion of objects in the solar system.
Social Studies
Tennessee State Standards. / GLE 8.2.9 Analyze in economic terms, (i.e., climate, triangle trade, infrastructure, topography), why slavery flourished in the South as opposed to the North.
GLE 8.4.5 Identify how conditions, actions, and motivations contributed to conflict and cooperation between states, regions and nations.
GLE 8.4.7 Recognize the impact of major court decisions have had on American life, (i.e., Marbury v Madison, McCulloch v. Maryland, Dred Scott v. Sandford).
GLE 8.4.9 Analyze the contributions of Tennessee political leaders on the national scene (e.g. Andrew Jackson, Andrew Johnson, James K Polk, Sequoyah, Sam Houston).
GLE 8.5.5 Recognize consequences of the westward expansion of the United States.
GLE 8.5.6 Classify the characteristics of major historic events into causes and effects (i.e., exploration, colonization, revolution, expansion, and Civil War).
GLE 8.5.9 Interpret a timeline, detailing the development of political parties in the United States to the Civil War.
GLE 8.5.10 Interpret maps, time lines and charts that illustrate key elements of history (i.e., expansion, economics, politics, society).
GLE 8.5.11 Identify conclusions about historical events using primary and secondary sources.
GLE 8.5.13 Examine the demographic changes brought about by westward movement (i.e., slavery, industrialization, and Native American relocation).

Notes: For more information or additional materials, please contact the following: