The Space Race

Essential Question: Was the Space Race About Space?

Common Core Standards: RH1, RH6, WHST1

Introduction:

Several sites will help teachers refresh memories about the space race:

The Space Race (Nebraska Studies)

Sputnik and the Origins of the Space Age (NASA History Division)

Objectives:

Students will debate the nature of the Space Race in four teams, using evidence to support their position on two questions:

Was the Space Race good or bad for the United States?

Was the Space Race really about science or the Cold War?

Initiation:

Play this sound for students:

http://www.amsat.org/amsat/features/sounds/sputnk1b.wav(link is external)

(It is a recording of Sputnik’s radio transmission.) Ask them to guess what it is.

Lay the groundwork for the lesson by painting a picture of 1950s Cold War America, including the concern about nuclear war.

Then show this clip from TED (3:47) that has David Hoffman introducing some of the key responses to Sputnik.