[nobe-l] Telling the Apollo 11 Story to a Younger Audience

[Tina Hansen]

As you may know, I have a team working with me on something around Apollo 11
for next year's BELL program. We're looking at trying to use Apollo 11 as a
kind of theme for the program, and modifying it depending on whether we have
a day-only program or residential.

 

We somehow want to recount the story of Apollo 11 during the program if we
take this route. If we have an older audience, we can use a documentary,
such as Modern Marvels, or we can relate more of the facts. However, when it
comes to a younger audience, such as ages 4-12, we're both scratching our
heads.

Today, we've been looking at a couple of books on the subject, and we've
looked at the audio portion of a You Tube video. The books themselves are
good, but if they're just listening to someone reading the book aloud,
they're likely to fall asleep. If we were to give them Braille copies of the
book, we'd be having to spend a lot of money. I do like the idea of having
something, but I'm worried about the cost of hardcopy Braille. Also, the
books don't include any actualities.

 

We also saw a You Tube video, but the pace of that video even drove me
crazy. The narrative was thrown at the audience like lightening, and it
doesn't allow for the audience to really digest it.

 

Also, it didn't include any actualities.

 

My team and I are especially interested in using the famous quotes from Neil
Armstrong, including Tranquility Base here, the eagle has landed, and the
ever-famous "That's one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind."

 

However, we're concerned about how to tell the story to an audience between
ages 4-12. There is a lot of history, and a lot of technical material that
could go over their heads. While I realize I can't control how the students
might react, I want to offer them something that would, as a character says
in the film Coco, grabs their attention and doesn't let it go.

 

If we were to narrate the story live, that would mean timing it just right.
If we were able to record the narrative in advance, we could add little
touches, such as music, sound effects or actualities. Yet we're back to the
issue of how much it would cost.

 

Bottom line: I feel like I'm walking a tightrope. We want to ensure they're
learning something, but since it's summer, I'm not a fan of things that look
like they're back in school. Granted, there is the need for teaching, but
the presentation also needs to have an element of fun. The students need to
have their imaginations engaged and not just sit there like they're in a
classroom.

 

In short, we're stumped. Any ideas? Thanks.