Lorna S. Dils
Objective
to evaluate the personal qualities necessary to be a space explorer, to think of them in relationship to oneself, and to examine the role of family.
Procedure
Read “R is for Rocket” and “Space Jockey”.
Discuss the following questions:
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What is the effect upon the family of a person in a high risk job?
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Should people in risky occupations be allowed to marry, have children?
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What personal qualities (in detail, please) does a space explorer need to possess?
Keeping in mind the discussion questions, the students will next write their own resume applying for a job exploring space. The year is 1998. This should be a combination of creative writing and analysis of their own strengths and weaknesses as they see themselves now and in the future. Examples of resumes should be shown first so that they can use the format in their writing.
Once the resumes have been finished, the students can role play a job interview with one student being him or herself as portrayed in the resume, and the other student the person in charge of a large space agency. It might be interesting to try to pair up students with differing opinions about the requirements for this kind of job. The interviewer should be encouraged to really scrutinize the applicant’s resume to ask many questions and the applicant should act very eager to get the job.
A note to the teacher: these activities are very flexible and can be elaborated on as much as wanted. For example, the teacher can give the students a lot of information about resumes and job interviews before the role playing activities. Signs can be made up identifying the space agency. The interviewer can make up their own “business cards” to give the job applicants. The students can create futuristic costumes to wear during their interviews.