The Daily Shooting Star

Background

Truth is often stranger than fiction and sometimes it is difficult to distinguish between the two. Newsstands are filled with tabloids thriving on our fascination with the outlandish. Articles pertaining to space and associated subjects are common and sometimes sound plausible. Since many of the things scientists have learned from meteorites are hard to believe, they lend themselves perfectly to this type of media.

Procedure

Read the tabloid articles and determine if they are fact or fiction. Be prepared to justify your decision. It might be helpful to underline what seems to be fact in one color and fiction in another color.

Conclusion

1. Is there one or more specific thing(s) in the article that influenced your decision about its truth or falsehood?
2. Describe articles you have read in the past that remind you of those you just read. What topic was addressed? Did you believe the article? Why or why not?
3. What difficulties might an author writing about space encounter?
4. Are there any concepts in any of the articles that might be considered unbelievable with today’s technology but within reason in the future?

Extension

1. Write your own tabloid article about meteors based upon truth or fiction.
2. Create and perform commercials for products containing meteorites, micro-meteorites, and so on claiming an end to baldness, super-human powers and so on.
3. If available, play a tape of the original “War of the Worlds” radio broadcast or read a shortened version. Discuss the panic audiences experienced when it originally aired in 1930 and how audiences would respond today.