UNIT
5: COMPUTERS & SATELLITES
FACT: COMPUTERS AND SATELLITES CAN HELP FARMERS
MAKE BETTER DECISIONS
LESSON
1: A Map is Worth a Thousand Words
(Language Arts, Music, Dance, Art, History)*
LESSON 2: Yield Map Math
(Math)*
LESSON 3: Satellite
Science (Science)*
LESSON 4: Finding
Your Way (Geography)*
*All Lesson plans
are adaptable for ALL ages!
DAVID
EXPLORES NEW WORLDS
IIt was a dark
July evening and David was lying on his back studying the stars, waiting
for the one that would change his life. The grass was soft, and it was
very quiet. He'd already found the stars outlining the Big Dipper and
Leo the Lion.
He wanted to see
a falling star. He had a wish, and his sister had told him that wishing
on a falling star offered the best chance of success. So he waited.
The wish started
with a bike, one with lots of speeds. But he didn't want just a bike.
He wanted a bike that would take him places he'd never been. Places
where he could see new sights, meet new people, try new things. Places
he could explore, then name. Places where people would always remember
him as the one who mapped the way.
He loved the story
of the Lewis and Clark expedition. They'd studied the land and the native
people, then drawn maps so others could follow.
He wondered if the
stars had looked the same then. He had a book telling how important
stars were to explorers. Once in a museum he'd seen a sextant, the tool
explorers had used to find their positions on the earth.
He lay there quietly,
slapping mosquitoes, dreaming about bikes and explorations. Wishing.
There, that was
one. High over his head. A falling star! This was his chance! He leaped
up.
He watched and
waited, holding his breath. He wouldn't let it leave his sight. He waited.
The seconds dragged by. One. Two. Three. Four. But the star didn't fall.
It kept moving, slowly, across the sky. His hopes sank.
Later, his mom said,
"I bet it was a satellite." David had seen a picture of one in his Weekly
Reader in school, so he listened a little. "Some of them are useful
in navigation. That means they can help make maps," she explained. "I'll
have Kevin show you tomorrow."
The
next day, at his mom's office, Kevin strapped a backpack on David. Kevin
was an expert in Global Positioning Systems, or GPS. The backpack held
a battery and a short pole topped with an eight-inch spaceship. At least
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