Exploring the Moon

This book contains: - Information on the Lunar Sample Disk, - Activity Matrices -- Skills & Standards, - A Teacher's Guide, - Moon ABCs Fact Sheet, - Rock ABCs Fact Sheet, - Progress in Lunar Science Chart, - 17 activities, - Resource Section for each unit, - Glossary, - NASA Educational Resources. The "Teacher's Guide" titled "The Moon: Gateway to the Solar System," pages 1-16, provides background information about the Moon. It tells the story of the Moon's geological history and how scientists try to decipher the story. This background information may be useful reading for students as well. Key facts about the Moon appear on the "Moon ABCs" and "Rock ABCs" pages. These pages were named to emphasize the basic nature of the information. The "Progress in Lunar Science Chart" summarizes our knowledge about the Moon from 1959 to 1997. The activities are divided into three units: Pre-Apollo, Learning from Apollo, and the Future. These correspond, at least roughly, to exercises that can be done before the Lunar Sample Disk arrives at your school (Pre-Apollo), while it is there (Learning from Apollo), and after it has been returned to NASA (The Future). The length of time needed to complete an activity will vary according to the degree of difficulty and the development level of the students. Thus activities may take one to eight or more class periods. "Activity Matrices" are provided to assist in identifying the science process skills and science and mathematics educational standards associated with each activity. Classroom activities promote problemsolving, communication skills, and teamwork. Each activity consists of teacher pages and reproducible student sheets. Teacher pages begin with a statement of purpose and background information with answers specific to the activity. Relevant pages in the "Teacher's Guide" also are listed. These are followed by sections on preparation, in-class suggestions, wrap-up ideas, and extensions. Words that are bolded appear in the Glossary. Student sheets include a purpose statement, key words, list of materials, procedure, questions with space provided for answers, and charts. Key words are included in the Glossary. Materials for each activity are listed in order of use. They are bolded in the text of the procedure section as a memory aid for students.