Aquarius Lesson Plan
Focus
Grade Level
Focus Question
Cold War History
12th Grade
Did the threat of war aid in the USA’s and USSR’s space program, and
can underwater exploration be as successful in an age of relative
peace?
Learning Objectives:
NC State Objective and Goal Being Addressed:
12.H.6.6 Analyze the Cold War race to outer space in terms of its
development and impacts on various people and places.
Learner Objective(s): At the completion of this lesson, students will
be able to:
Students will understand the geopolitical influences on the Space
Program during the Cold War, and how undersea exploration is effected
by the lack of a serious driving force, like combating Communism.
Materials
Computer
Audio/Visual Materials
Projector, PowerPoint, Aquarius video
Teaching Time
Seat Arrangement
Maximum Number of Students
Key Words
90 min
Groups of 4
25-30
Space Race, Aquarius, USA, USSR, exploration
Background Information (Prior
Knowledge)
Knowledge about Cold War politics from previous classes.
Opening Activity
How will you get the students engaged and involved in today’s lesson
right away? Explain why you chose to implement this activity.
Learning Procedure ( Activity)
10 Min
The students will come into class and will be instructed to form
groups of 4. At this point I will show a brief video of the moon
landing with Neil Armstrong, and spend a minute or two asking
which students knew what the clip was, who was in it, when it was
filmed etc. This video will get the students to begin thinking about
space exploration.
60 Min
-The first 25 min of this time will go towards teaching the students
about the Space Race from the late 1950s through the early 1970s
from both the USA’s and USSR’s perspective using a PowerPoint
presentation.
-The next 10 min will be used to introduce Aquarius to the students
using the Youtube video, and explain what they aim to do in the
underwater laboratory.
-Once the students have a grasp of the content, for 25 min each
group will be asked to discuss the following points.
 How did the Cold War affect the rate of space exploration
research by both the USA and the USSR?
 Will undersea research be as successful noting that there is
less incentive for the government fund it? Should it fund it?
Aquarius Lesson Plan

Connections to Other Subjects
Closing Activity and Assignment
Assessment
Other Links and Resources
What parallels are there between the space program and
undersea research in terms of importance?
Sciences
How will you wrap up your lesson? What is the timeframe for closing
activity/assignment? How will you review the material presented? How
will you keep all students actively involved until the end of class?
20 Min
In the last 20 min of class each of the groups will be asked to come in
front of the class a briefly present what their consensus was from
their discussion.
Once the students have completed the class activities they will be
asked to write a 1 to 2 paragraph essay explaining what benefits
might come from space exploration and what might come from
undersea research using internet sources.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WyKAuuwOppY&feature=relmfu