The Birth and Death of Columbia - The History of the First Space Orbiter
A WebQuest Created by:
Lon L. Eilders, II
The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga
Introduction | Task | Process | Evaluation | Conclusion | Teachers | Credits/References
Many people still remember where they were when the Challenger exploded. Many will remember were they were when Columbia broke-up on re-entry. Did you know that Columbia was the first space shuttle to achieve orbit?
Use the Internet as the primary source to answer questions about the history of the space orbiter, Columbia. You have one class period to research and collect data for this project. Your teacher will assign the due date for the paper.
Use the following two websites and the links within to write a two-page paper outlining a brief sketch of the history of Columbia:
STS 107: Space Research and You
The paper must be double spaced, 12-pont font, and Times New Roman font. The paper must include a cover page, page numbers, and a reference page.
Be sure to include the answers to the following questions:
1) Who or what is Columbia named after?
2) What are two reasons why?
3) What other ships and space vehicles have been named Columbia?
4) When did Columbia make her first flight?
5) Who flew mission STS-1?
6) What are the names of the four sister ships and when were they added to the fleet?
7) Which sister ship exploded and when?
8) Which sister ship was built to replace her?
9) How many flights did Columbia make?
10) Who flew STS-107?
11) When did Columbia breakup on re-entry?
12) What is the possible reason why Columbia broke up on re-entry?
13-15) What are three science experiments that were conducted on STS-107?
You may include any additional information you feel is appropriate to make your paper well-structured and clear.
Student papers will be evaluated using the following rubric:
Paper Rubric (Word Document)
Paper Rubric (PDF File)
Paper Rubric
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4 |
3 |
2 |
1 |
Self Assessment |
Teacher Assessment |
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Questions Answered |
Answered all 15 questions correctly. |
Answered 14 to 10 questions correctly. |
Answered 9 to 5 questions correctly. |
Answered 4 to 0 questions correctly. |
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Opening |
Opening is strong, well-structured, and contains a thesis statement. |
Opening is well-structured and contains a thesis statement. |
Opening is poorly developed but contains a thesis statement. |
Opening is poorly developed and contains no thesis statement. |
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Organization of body |
Structure of body is clearly developed. |
Structure developed reasonably well, but lacks clarity. |
Some attempt to structure the information has been made, but the structure is poorly developed. |
There is a total lack of structure. |
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Closure |
Closing is strong, well-structured, and relates back to the thesis statement. |
Closing is well-structured and relates back to the thesis statement. |
Closing is poorly developed but relates back to the thesis statement. |
Closing is poorly developed and lacks relation to the thesis state if one was present. |
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Sentence Structure |
Sentence structure is correct. |
Sentence structure is generally correct. Some awkward sentences do appear. |
Work contains structural weaknesses and grammatical errors. |
Work pays little attention to proper sentence structure. |
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Punctuation & Capitalization |
Punctuation and capitalization are correct. |
There is one error in punctuation and/or capitalization. |
There are two or three errors in punctuation and/or capitalization. |
There are four or more errors in punctuation and/or capitalization. |
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Total (out of 24)----> |
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Our hearts go out to the families of the crew of STS-107.
Grade Band: 9-12 Earth Science
Tennessee State Standards: 9-12 Earth Science
1.4 investigate the exploration of space.
Purpose: To encourage students to learn about the first space orbiter and its history through the exciting use of the Internet. To encourage the presentation of data by a paper.
Preceding and Ensuing Events of Instruction: The teacher should first show the IMAX movie Hail Columbia! (36 minutes) which is available through slingshot. This should prompt student interest in the topics covered in this WebQuest. Ordering information at www.slingshotdvd.com
This WebQuest can prompt future interest of students in the NASA and the space program.
Learning Improvements: Students will be allowed to do independent research which should lead to a move away from extrinsic rewards to greater intrinsic rewards. Learning will be reinforced when the students assemble and evaluate the research they have done.
Improvements and Expansions: This WebQuest can be expanded by introducing the history of Challenger and having them compare and contrast the accidents related to each shuttle.
Dumoulin, J. (2003). Columbia (OV-102). Retrieved on June 5, 2003, from http://science.ksc.nasa.gov/shuttle/resources/orbiters/columbia.html
IMAX. (1981). Hail Columbia! [DVD] Burbank, CA: Slingshot DVD Corp.
Watson, K. (2003). STS 107: Space research and you. Retrieved on June 5, 2003, from http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/shuttle