Bringing UFOs Down to Earth

On Halloween in 1938, actor and filmmaker Orson Wells terrified America with his radio broadcast, War of the Worlds. Wells’ story confused listeners who thought that his reports of aliens landing in New Jersey were real. Although it may sound silly today, Americans panicked as they thought Martians were invading. We may be a bit more sophisticated now, but thoughts of extraterrestrial landings still occupy the imaginations of peoples the world over. There are thousands of UFO sightings every year, from every part of the globe. This episode of The New Explorers investigates some of those claims and what people see when they spot a UFO. Bringing UFOs Down to Earth would be useful for classes on Science, World Cultures, Ecology, and Geography. It is appropriate for middle school and high school.

• anticipation
• assumption
• biased
• coincidence
• consumed
• credible
• deduction
• evidence
• herald
• hoax
• illustrious
• inundate
• luminescent
• objectivity
• observatory
• pervasive
• skeptic
• tantalizing
• terrestrial
• trajectory

1. What is an acronym? What does the acronym UFO stand for?

2. To date, there has never been a substantiated claim of UFOs, nor any evidence that if they do exist, they mean the people of earth any harm. Yet many people are frightened of UFOs. Why? What is the role of the media in perpetuating this fear?

3. Farmers in the Amazon Rain Forest did not contact the authorities to report their sightings. Why?

4. Discuss why people are so entranced by the idea of UFOs that they become sky watchers.

5. Most UFO sightings can be logically explained as either a human made object such as a weather balloon or some natural phenomena, such as a shooting star. What are some of the other logical explanations for UFO sightings?

6. The Amazon Rain Forest in Brazil is an important factor in the earth’s ecosystem. Discuss some of the characteristics of the Rain Forest and its importance.

7. Some scientists feel that television is responsible for the many UFO sightings. Is television a pervasive influence in your life? If so, how and why?

8. Many of the UFO sightings turn out to be hoaxes. Why would people create hoaxes?

1. Draw your conception of a UFO.

2. Research the Amazon Rain Forest and draw a poster illustrating its role in the earth’s ecosystem.

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