Resources:
Video: Meteor
Rights Sky Trackers ACTF
See Education
Catalogue for video purchasing details and order form.
|
Lesson plan:
This is the second episode in the series and therefore the characters
are still being established. Pause the tape after the opening dramatic
sequence featuring Mike and his horse. Ask students to identify the clues
that tell them that this is a fantasy sequence, for example:
- the use of slow
motion
- the use of soft
focus
- the colour toning.
Play the tape up
to the point at which the teacher interrupts Mike's reverie. Discuss the
purpose of the fantasy sequence. Prompt questions might be:
- What is Mike dreaming
of?
- Does he already
have what he dreams of?
- How might his
inner thoughts have been shown in a written story?
Have students write
a version of the introductory scene for this episode in such a way as
to reveal Mike's hopes and dreams.
Analyse the conquest as a narrative device
The narrative in this episode could be described as "Scientist
as Detective". This is a form of the heroic conquest story
and a recurring motif in story telling. In brief the heroic conquest story
is structured as follows:
the quest is established
a wiser or older person sends out the heroes on the quest
the heroes face difficult tasks and impediments to their quest
when the heroes meet difficulties magic intervenes to solve the problem
the heroes overcome all odds
the heroes return home
the story ends on a moral note.
Discuss the events in Meteor Rights in terms
of the quest narrative outlined above. Consider such issues as the problems
the children faced and the use of the magnet as a magical agent. This
story telling form is a common one and forms the underlying structure
of many myths and many contemporary stories including television narratives.
Analyse other television narratives in terms of this structure. Some suggestions
are:
Water Rats, Batman, Lois and Clark.
Explore the conflict
The story presents both external conflict and internal conflict. Explain
the difference between these types of conflict and ask students to identify
examples of each sort in the episode. How does Mike's conflict relate
to the opening scene of the episode.
In her address to
the class Susie gives some important information about the nature and
value of meteorites.
Supplement this with this information:
|
There are
two basic types of meteorites - iron meteorites and stony meteorites.
Iron meteorites are made up of mainly nickel and iron. Stony meteorites
contain mostly silicates such as olivine and pyroxene. The most
ancient meteorites are stony ones called chondrites. They are named
after the rounded droplets of silicates they contain and the word
comes from the Greek word khondros which means 'grain'. A very small
percentage of the carbon in some of these meteorites has survived
from before the solar sys tem existed.
Two large meteorites
have hit the earth this century. In each case it has been estimated
that at least a thousand tonnes of rock and metal travelling at
50 kilometres per second hit the earth with an explosive force similar
to that of an atomic bomb. Australia has at least 15 meteor craters
that are clearly visible from the ground. Wolf Creek in the Northern
Territory I probably the most famous of these. The Nullarbor Plain
is one of the world's largest source of meteorites. |
Ask students to summarise
what they have learnt from Susie's brief lesson and
the boxed information above.
|
