Online Learning Activities
Meet Mae Jemison: A Challenging the Space Frontier Activity
Students can meet super scientist Mae Jemison, the first black female astronaut, and read her incredible story from girlhood to NASA.
- Grades: 3–5, 6–8
With Scholastic’s “Meet Mae Jamison” activity, students have the unique opportunity to meet a super scientist! Students can read about her incredible journey from childhood to NASA, where in 1992 she took part in the Endeavour space shuttle mission, becoming the first black female astronaut.
Plus, students can read an interview transcript with Mae, where she discusses everything from taking off in the space shuttle, what it was like being in space, the difficult training leading up to the trip, and how she’d like to go to Mars.
Learning Objectives
This article is a part of the "Challenging the Space Frontier" mission. In the course of participating in this activity, students will:
- learn about the history of space exploration in the context of the "space race" during the Cold War;
- improve content-area reading skills, including comprehension and vocabulary;
- reflect on what has been learned after reading by formulating ideas, opinions, and personal responses;
- use discussion with peers as a way of understanding information;
- learn to do online research;
- develop thoughtful, focused questions about their reading;
- create a timeline using information and media from their own research.
- Subjects:Content Area Reading, Space Travel, Historic Figures
