Lesson video

Hi there! Welcome to this reading lesson.

My name is Mr. Charlesworth.

In today's lesson, we're going to be exploring the text, "Curiosity: The story of a Mars Rover".

It's illustrated and written by Marcus Motum.

For the lesson, you're going to need a copy of the text.

If you haven't got one already, pause the video now whilst you make sure you've got one to hand.

Well done! In today's lesson, we are going to be exploring the text further and learning how to answer some questions using the text to support us.

I hope you're feeling curious.

Let's get started.

The lesson outcome for today is I can answer a range of comprehension questions on "Curiosity: The Story of a Mars Rover".

The key words are, my turn, your turn, Curiosity rover, purpose.

Let's try those once more.

Curiosity rover, purpose.

Great work.

Let's now have a look at the definitions.

The Curiosity rover is a robot explorer sent to Mars by NASA.

The purpose of an object is its function or job.

Don't worry if you're unsure about any of these keywords.

We'll be exploring them throughout the lesson.

Today's lesson is all about building our comprehension of the text, "Curiosity" through rich discussions.

We're going to begin by looking at how the rover landed on Mars and the complex processes that were involved.

Before then, having a look at how the rover explored the Martian surface.

I hope you're feeling curious to learn more.

Let's get started by looking at the first part, Landing on Mars.

"Curiosity: The Story of a Mars Rover is written and illustrated by Marcus Motum.

Stuart Atkinson, who's an astronomy expert, was consulted on the text.

Let's have a look at what we know so far.

When creating the Curiosity rover, the scientists and the team at NASA had to plan for lots of different eventualities.

That's a bit like a circumstance or different things that might crop up during the mission.

The rover needed to be self-sufficient.

That means it can't rely on human intervention.

40 minutes after the launch, the Curiosity Rover was in the module on its journey to Mars.

Before we continue reading, here are some useful facts that might help contextualise what we're about to read.

In comparison to Earth, Mars is about 53% smaller.

You can see the comparison in the image to the right.

We're obviously a lot further away, but this is to show a difference in comparison of size.

NASA measures the days on Mars in sols.

Let's say that together, sols.

Well done! One sol lasts approximately 24 hours, 39 minutes and 35 seconds.

You can see that NASA are very specific.

A year on Mars is equivalent to almost two Earth years, so time is measured differently.

We're rejoin the text as the Curiosity rover is about to reach Mars itself.

Here's our first check for understanding.

True or false? A day on Mars is longer than a day on earth.

Is that true or false? Pause the video now whilst you decide.

That's right.

It's true.

Now I'd like you to justify your answer.

Is it because A, a year on Mars is equivalent to almost two Earth years? Or B, a day on Mars is called a sol.

It lasts approximately 24 hours, 39 minutes and 35 seconds.

Which of these statements best links to the original one? Pause the video now whilst you decide Well done, you're correct.

It's B.

B mentions the time taken in a Mars day, which is called a sol, well remembered.

After 253 days travelling at 13,000 miles per hour, the module now has the daunting task of landing safely.

Daunting is another word for challenging.

I'd like you now to read pages 31 to 36 ending with the word Mars.

This might be done independently, with a talk partner or with an adult.

Perhaps find the word Mars on page 36 before you start reading so you know where you're reading up to.

Pause the video now whilst you read together.

Fantastic reading! And I'd like you to use what you've learned to answer the following question.

What made the landing perfect? Refer to pages 33 and 34 to support.

Pause video now whilst you answer the question with your partner.

Well done! There are lots of possible things that you might have mentioned.

Let's have a look at two examples.

Aisha says, "The Curiosity rover had to change from travelling at 1000 miles per hour as it entered Mars' atmosphere to just 2 miles an hour." That's quite a shift.

Alex says that the landing device had to carry out lots of manoeuvres.

That's another word for movements.

With a parachute and descent vehicle also doing their job perfectly.

I wonder if you had similar responses to both Aisha and Alex.

The image here of the Mars rover landing is an artist impression, a concept piece of art.

You'll see a real photograph on the next slide.

The Curiosity Rover lands on Mars.

It sends a message to NASA to let them know the landing was successful.

It takes 15 minutes for the message to travel to Earth.

Referring to page 35 and 36, I'd like you to answer the following question.

Why might the atmosphere at NASA be tense? Pause video now whilst you discuss the question with your partner.

Well done! Luca says, "The atmosphere might be tense because after several years of planning and testing, the team are waiting to see if the landing goes to plan." Those 15 minutes must have felt like forever.

You can see a self portrait that the rover took of itself on the right hand side.

It's so impressive to see photographs on the surface of Mars, don't you think? Here's our next check for understanding.

Can you sequence the following events from the landing process into chronological order? You can refer to pages 33 and 34 to support.

You'll need to read through the four different options and then work out which comes first, which comes last and which comes in the middle.

Number them 1, 2, 3, and 4.

Pause the video now once you complete, I wonder if you've got these all correct.

I can tell that the final part must be the Curiosity rover lowering onto the surface, so that must be number 4.

The first part here is the metal outer casing protects the Curiosity rover as it enters Mars' atmosphere.

Next to slow it down, a parachute is deployed.

The shell of the module splits.

Then we have the descent vehicle that fires small rockets to move the Curiosity rover away from the parachute.

And finally then, the Curiosity rover is lowered onto the surface.

I hope you got these all correct.

Well done if you did! In our first task, I'd like you to answer the following questions using pages 31 to 36 to support you.

The first question is, how long does the journey last from entering Mar's atmosphere to landing? Question 2 is which two devices are deployed to lower the speed of descent? And question 3 is how many rockets are fired to further slow the Curiosity rover down? What do they try to avoid? And why do you think this might be? Have a discussion with your talk partner before answering the questions together.

Pause the video now whilst you complete the task.

Let's now have a look at some of the answers to see if you're correct.

The journey lasts seven minutes from entering Mars' atmosphere to landing.

The two devices that are deployed are a parachute and a rocket-powered descent stage.

And finally, the Curiosity rover is further slowed down by eight rockets which move it out of the way of the parachute.

This might be so the rover doesn't get tangled up.

Well done if you got these all correct! We are now going to explore what happened to the Curiosity rover as it began to explore the Martian surface.

Upon landing, members of the public were also really happy to see the Curiosity Rover lands safely.

And I'll let you to read pages 37 to 46.

This ends with a quote from Clara Ma.

Perhaps have a look at page 46 now so you know where you're reading up to.

Pause the video now whilst you read together.

Well done! I love the image of Times Square in New York with everyone watching as it landed.

I wonder if you can answer the following question.

Why did the Curiosity take photos of itself to send to NASA? You can refer to pages 39 and 40 to support you here if you need it.

Pause the video now whilst you answer the question.

There's a special reason as to why the Curiosity Rover took selfies of itself.

Laura says, "The Curiosity took photos of itself to allow NASA to check if any equipment or parts of the rover were damaged on landing." Here's our next question.

Why do you think the Rover's landing site had been carefully chosen? There might be more than one reason.

Refer to pages 39 and 40 to support you.

Pause the video now as you discuss the question with your partner.

Jacob says, "I think the team at NASA had chosen their location because it might have been close to where they thought water could be found." June mentions that the Rover can only travel approximately 200 metres a day.

Therefore, the landing site needed to be near locations that would help its mission.

Scientists at NASA would've thought carefully about this for many, many years before launching the rover and making sure it landed in exactly the right location.

Here's our next check for understanding.

True or false? It did not matter where the Curiosity rover landed, just that it landed safely.

Is that true or false? Pause the video now whilst you decide.

Well done! It is false.

Now I'd like you to justify your answer.

Is it because A, the landing site was carefully chosen to give the rover optimal chance of achieving its mission goals or B, the Curiosity Rover landed in Gale Crater.

Which one of these justifications best fits with the original statement? Pause the video now whilst you decide.

Well done! Whilst the Curiosity Rover did land in Gale Crater, it's the fact that the site was specifically chosen, that links best to the original statement.

This next image really impressed me when I first saw it.

Here's an image that the Curiosity rover sent back to NASA.

Some of Curiosity's cameras are black and white, while others are in colour.

The cameras are able to stitch together images.

These are called mosaics.

Perhaps you've heard from them from other lessons, particularly about the Roman Empire.

A mosaic is made up usually of tiles.

However, in this case, those tiles are created by photographs.

I'd like you to discuss with your partner what interests you most about this image and why.

Have a look closely.

Look at the different colours, the types of terrain, that's the land and anything else that you notice.

Pause the video now whilst you discussed with your partner.

There are lots of things that interested me about this picture.

Let's have a look at two examples.

Sophia says, "I can see hills and valleys just like we have on earth.

It reminds me of the Grand Canyon in the United States of America." It did the same for me too.

The colours were really similar.

Perhaps they're made out of similar elements.

Izzy says, "It's amazing to see the colours on Mars' surface.

To think of this being another planet really makes me feel full of awe and wonder." It makes me feel the same as Izzy.

I hope it's similar for you too.

Since 2012, the Curiosity Rover has travelled a long way.

Over time, it's been able to build up a better understanding of the planet and how it has transferred from being a warm climate with water to now being cold and dusty.

Referring to pages 45 and 46, I'd like you to answer the following question.

After reading the end of the text, how does it make you feel? Pause video now whilst you discuss the question with your partner.

Great work! This is a personal response, so it might differ from reader to reader.

Let's have a look at an example from Lucas.

He says, "The text left me with lots of questions about what the Curiosity Rover might explore next.

I want to find out what the Curiosity has been up to since the book was published." You can find out what the Curiosity has been up to by exploring the Mars mission area on NASA's website.

Here's our final check for understanding.

Which of the following is true? A, the Curiosity has sent back images from Mars' Surface; B, the rover's been able to travel across the surface of Mars; C, the rover is unable to take images or D, the rover has remained stationary.

Which one of these is true? There might be more than one.

Pause video now whilst you decide.

Well done! The two true statements here are A and B.

The Curiosity has been able to send images back from Mars' service.

We've seen a few in this lesson already.

And B, the rover has been able to travel across the surface of Mars.

We know it's able to travel about 200 metres every day, so the scientists and team at NASA have to think really carefully months in advance of where they want to take it next.

Here's a really famous image taken from the Curiosity on Mars' surface.

It shows earth as a tiny speck in the night sky.

Now, earth is so small in this image.

You might notice it as just a speck on your screen.

I've put a circle around it here, so you might be able to look at it a little closer.

This photo really made me think about the size of the universe and how we are a small spec in the grand scheme of things.

I wonder how it makes you feel.

In this task, we're going to explore how the rover examined Mars' surface.

We're going to begin by rereading pages 41 and 42.

I'd like you to focus on how the Curiosity Rover used its equipment, sensors, and technology to understand more about the planet.

In the table, on the following slide, note down three different types of equipment.

Then note down their purpose.

What do they help the rover do or achieve? Here's the table that I'd like you to fill out.

You can of course refer to pages 41 and 42 for support.

I've given you the first bit of equipment here, which are navigation cameras.

I wonder what their purpose is.

To help it achieve its mission.

Pause video now whilst you complete the task.

Well done! Let's now have a look at the equipment and their purpose.

The navigation cameras were used to detect hazards and safely travel around the Martian landscape.

Well remembered, they're called Hazcams, hazard cameras.

The rover also had a laser.

The laser allowed the Curiosity to examine the consistency of the rocks.

Finally, the rover was equipped with a drill.

Powder from the drill was able to be transported to the Curiosity's lab for analysis.

You can see how each of these different parts of equipment on the rover helped it achieve its overall mission.

I wonder what NASA was able to learn from all of the data it's collected.

In today's lesson, we've been building comprehension of Curiosity through rich discussion.

We've learned that the Curiosity rover's landing was really complex.

There were lots of different stages involved.

The landing of the rover took a total of seven minutes for it to go from Mars' atmosphere to landing on the surface.

Once it landed safely, Curiosity set off to explore the surface.

We've seen a few of the images and these images are able to be sent back to NASA who can then decide what they'd like the rover to explore, analyse or examine next.

Finally, we've learned a range of equipment and technology allow the Curiosity to conduct experiments on the surface of their planet.

Their purpose is to assist it in achieving the aims of the mission.

I hope you've enjoyed learning more about the Curiosity rover and its mission.

Well done for all your hard work.

I'm looking forward to working with you again soon.