This unit aims to reduce the achievement gap experienced by African American students at the author's school on standardized tests in language arts and science. It uses space exploration and colonization as themes to engage students. Activities include investigating Mars colonization plans, analyzing challenges to establishing a lunar colony, and addressing ethical implications of contamination from human colonization. Formative and summative assessments are designed to promote critical thinking skills. The unit is intended to expose students to minority scholars in STEM fields and allow students to apply learning to real-world projects.

1. Humans place in the
universe
Lucas Meister
American College of Education
CI5103
Curriculum and Instruction Design
for Diversity

2. Diverse Learners – Student Subgroup
 Subgroup: African American Students
 Rational: African-American students at my school have had a
consistent achievement gap of -20 to -29 when compared to
Hispanic or White students on the PARCC ELA test
 This pattern has been consistent over the past 4 years

3. Achievement Gap

4. Content areas and Standards
 Content Areas: Language Arts and Science
 Standards:
 ESS1.B: Earth and the Solar System
 • The solar system consists of the sun and a collection of objects, including planets, their moons, and
asteroids that are held in orbit around the sun by its gravitational pull on them. (MS-ESS1-2),(MS-ESS1-
3)
 • CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.7.1
 Cite several pieces of textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as
inferences drawn from the text.
 • CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.7.2
 Determine two or more central ideas in a text and analyze their development over the course of the
text; provide an objective summary of the text.

5. Unit objectives
 Objective 1: Students will be able to cite several pieces of
textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says
explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text.
 Objective 2: Students will be able to determine two or more
central ideas in a text and analyze their development over the
course of the text; provide an objective summary of the text.
 Objective 3: Students will be able to analyze the positions of
various objects in the solar system to determine their viability
for human colonization.

6. Learning Activity 1
 Activity: Using provided documents and original research, student
groups will:
 Investigate various aspects of a mars colonization project
 Report their findings to other teams
 Compare and contrast different proposed colonization strategies
 Create their own colonization plan for Mars
 Bloom’s Levels: Creation, Compare and Contrast, and Analysis
 Resources:https://www.researchgate.net/publication/249037765_
Colonizing_the_Red_Planet_An_Interdisciplinary_Activity

7. Learning Activity 2
 Activity: Using provided documents and original research,
students will:
 Investigate the requirements for the establishment of a lunar colony
 Analyze challenges to the project and evaluate potential solutions
 Create a model of their proposed lunar colony and demonstrate how
it overcomes these challenges
 Bloom’s Levels: Creation, Evaluation, and Analysis
 Resources:
https://www.nasa.gov/pdf/475486main_HEP_I_MS_6.pdf

8. Learning Activity 3
 Activity: After watching several videos, students will:
 Identify potential ethical implications of contamination due to
human colonization in space
 Analyze 2 articles from Nasa for potential solutions to these ethical
implications
 Create an action plan for a hypothesized colonization mission to
limit the potential for contamination.
 Bloom’s Levels: Creation, Analysis, and Understand
 Resources:
http://www.cpalms.org/Public/PreviewResourceLesson/Preview/
167596

9. Assessment
 Formative Assessments: teacher observations, group discussions, and student products from
activities
 Summative assessment: In cooperative learning groups, students will:
 Create a multimedia presentation in which they identify the object in the solar system (planet,
moon, or asteroid) that they think is most suitable and beneficial for human colonization
 May be created through PowerPoint, Prezi, Sway, or another format with prior approval from the teacher.
 Should be between 7-10 minutes long
 Must include evidence from at least 4 sources
 Must consider the viability of colonizing the object, the economic benefits of such colonization, other potential
benefits, the difficulties and dangers that would face the colonists as well as potential solutions and the long-
term implications of such colonization
 Must contain pictures and/or videos to help engage the audience
 The teacher will assess each group using a rubric.

10. Rationale
 Research has identified strategies to promote student achievement among
African-American students to lessen this achievement gap:
 Subject matter and activities allow for the exposure of students to the
accomplishments of minority scholars, engineers and astronauts (Ford, Grantham,
Whiting, 2008).
 Unit design causes students to actively relate new learning to their own
understandings and apply that information to the creation of products (Becker &
Luthar, 2002).
 Activities allow for frequent assessment and feedback from the teacher(Cohen,
Garcia, Purdie-Vaughns, Apfel, Brzustoski, 2009) .
 The unit has students learn about and reflect on larger human issues such as
human exploration, human colonization, social structures, and long term viability
of earth (Ford, 2014) .

11. ReferencesRunning head: MODULE 3 APPLICATION 1
Cohen, G. L., Garcia, J., Purdie-Vaughns, V., Apfel, N., & Brzustoski, P. (2009). Recursive processes in self-affirmation: Intervening
to close the minority achievement gap. Science, 324(5925), 400-403.
CPALMS. (n.d.). Ethical Colonization? Retrieved January 21, 2019, from
http://www.cpalms.org/Public/PreviewResourceLesson/Preview/167596
Ford, D. Y., Grantham, T. C., & Whiting, G. W. (2008). Another look at the achievement gap: Learning from the experiences of gifted
Black students. Urban Education, 43(2), 216-239.
NASA. (n.d.). National Aeronautics and Space AdministrationLunar Colonization Human Exploration Project I Energy and Power A
Standards-Based Middle School Unit Guide. Retrieved January 21, 2019,
from https://www.nasa.gov/pdf/475486main_HEP_I_MS_6.pdf
Tomblin, David & Bentley, Michael. (1998). Colonizing the Red Planet: An Interdisciplinary Activity. Science Activities: Classroom
Projects and Curriculum Ideas. 35. 28-34.