6th Grade: Lunar Colony Mission

Your Mission:
cultural
practices

multiplestep
problems

trade

Social Studies:
What would
colonization of the
moon look like?

The Earth is dying.

Countries around the
world are establishing
colonies on the moon,
and your task is to create
an advertisement to
persuade people to join
your sustainable moon
colony.

colonizing
new lands

night
&
day

seasonal
changes

Science:
What would life
be like on the
moon?

Llunar
phases

problembased
approaches

Math:
What
quantities
of
resources
would
people
need to
survive?

adding &
subtracting
decimals

English Language Arts:

Create, revise, and edit
a persuasive
advertisement for
publishing.

revise
and
edit

create
writing

persuade
an audience

You will need to complete the tasks described on the back of this sheet. You will use this information to plan your final product.

Indianapolis Public Schools

Curriculum and Instruction

6th Grade: Lunar Colony Mission

You can create your own layout and design for your advertisement. The parts from each task must be clearly present in the final
product. Your advertisement can be created by hand or on a computer. (1-2 pages maximum)
Math Performance Tasks
Resources such as oxygen, water, and food are
provided to all colonies. In order to determine the
quantities of resources you need for your colony,
complete the following problems (show your work
on a separate sheet of paper & attach it to the
advertisement).
Include the answers in your advertisement.

Social Studies Performance Tasks

The moon is being colonized by several
nations. Before people decide which
colony to join, they need to know how
your colony will establish itself and how
it will be different from the others. Your
answers to the following questions will
provide this information. Include at
least 2 of your responses in your final
product.

All colonies are given a set amount of water per

citizen. The maximum population for a colony is
1,250 people. All citizens are permitted 12.5
gallons of water per day. If you want to have
enough water to support the maximum
population, how much water would you need for
one colony for the entire year?
Food is provided to all citizens of a colony.
However, citizens must commit to work 13.4 hours
in order to earn 6 food credits (enough to buy 1
meal). Due to the low level of gravity, people are
only allowed to work 11 hours at a time. How
many Earth days does a colonist have to work to
earn 126 food credits? (Round your answer to the
nearest hundredth.)

How will you establish trade? What

will happen without an economic
framework?
What are the three most important
things you will consider as you
develop your colony?
What resources will be most
important to your colony? Why?
How will your colony develop over
time? Create a timeline to show the
phases of development.
How could you organize a
government that allows different
ideas, interests, and perspectives to
be expressed?

Science Performance Tasks

People want to know what life will be like
throughout the year in these colonies. The
moon DOES NOT have a titled axis, but it
does spin on an axis like earth. (It takes 27
Earth days to make 1 full rotation on its axis
compared to 24 hours for Earths full
rotation. The moon also takes 27 days to
orbit the Earth.) Include your answers to
ALL of the following questions in your final
advertisement.
Will there be seasonal changes on the
moon like we have on Earth? Why or
why not? Explain or illustrate your
answer.
What is the length of a day on the
moon? Illustrate or write an
explanation to support your answer.
On Earth, people often travel to get
away from colder places (such as going
to Florida for the winter). Will colonists
on the moon be able to travel to
different climates? Why or why not?
Explain or illustrate your answer.

English Language Arts Performance Tasks

Your advertisement can be handmade, or computer created and include at least one picture or illustration. Your advertisement should be free
of grammatical errors.

Indianapolis Public Schools

Curriculum and Instruction