Moon Landing Game

Instructions: You are a member of a space crew originally scheduled to rendezvous with a mother ship on the lighted side of the moon. Due to mechanical difficulties, however, your ship was forced to land at a spot some 200 miles from the rendezvous point. During landing, much of the equipment aboard was damaged and since survival depends on reaching the mother ship, the most critical items available must be chosen for the 200 mile trip. Below are listed the 15 items left intact and undamaged after landing. Your task is to rank them in order of importance to your crew in allowing them to reach the rendezvous point. Place the number 1 by the most important item, the number 2 by the second most important item, and so on, through number 15, the least important item.

My Ranking:

_____ Box of matches _____ _____

_____ Food concentrate _____ _____

_____ 50 feet of nylon rope _____ _____

_____ parachute silk _____ _____

_____ two .45-calibre pistols _____ _____

_____ one case of dehydrated milk _____ _____

_____ two 100-pound tanks of oxygen _____ _____

_____ stellar map (of the moon's constellations) _____ _____

_____ life raft _____ _____

_____ magnetic compass _____ _____

_____ five gallons of water _____ _____

_____ signal flares _____ _____

_____ first aid kit containing injection needles _____ _____

_____ solar-powered FM receiver _____ _____

_____ portable heating unit _____ _____

Moon Landing Game

Instructor's Answer Sheet

Instructions: You are a member of a space crew originally scheduled to rendezvous with a mother ship on the lighted side of the moon. Due to mechanical difficulties, however, your ship was forced to land at a spot some 200 miles from the rendezvous point. During landing, much of the equipment aboard was damaged and since survival depends on reaching the mother ship, the most critical items available must be chosen for the 200 mile trip. Below are listed the 15 items left intact and undamaged after landing. Your task is to rank them in order of importance to your crew in allowing them to reach the rendezvous point. Place the number 1 by the most important item, the number 2 by the second most important item, and so on, through number 15, the least important item.

1) Take 10 minutes to decide your own ranking, and record your choices in the left-hand column.

2) Get into groups of 4-5 and make a second ranking. Discuss your individual choices and decide on a ranking as a group. Record your choices in the second column.

3) The correct answers were compiled by a team of scientists and engineers at NASA. Compare your individual and group answers with the correct answers and determine a score, the sum of the differences between answers.

Indiv Group Correct

_____ Box of matches _____ 15

_____ Food concentrate _____ 4

_____ 50 feet of nylon rope _____ 6

_____ parachute silk _____ 8

_____ two .45-calibre pistols _____ 11

_____ one case of dehydrated milk _____ 12

_____ two 100-pound tanks of oxygen _____ 1

_____ stellar map (of the moon's constellations) _____ 3

_____ life raft _____ 9

_____ magnetic compass _____ 14

_____ five gallons of water _____ 2

_____ signal flares _____ 10

_____ first aid kit containing injection needles _____ 7

_____ solar-powered FM receiver _____ 5

_____ portable heating unit _____ 13

TOTAL Differences:

Individual:

Group:

[The point here is that most people will have improved their scores by working together as a team. Team members will each contribute their background knowledge to the team's collective wisdom, improving the score over each individual members score.]