U.S. History: The Cold War Space Race | Document Analysis Activity

This resource is a U.S. History: The Cold War Space Race | Document Analysis Activity is designed for students to learn and/or practice analysis of historical events such as the war space race.

This 4 page Document Based packet allows students to answer the following question:

"As the Cold War between the USA and the Soviet Union continued into the 1950’s and 60’s. The U.S. and S.U. grew increasingly competitive, especially in the race to space. Each side sought to prove its superiority and the S.U. was ahead…Who won the Space Race and how was this accomplished?"

Students will be using primary source documents, articles and photographs that they have analyzed. All of these primary resources are included in this resource.

Documents (excerpts) included:

Article on Sputnik, telegram from Kennedy to Khrushev "Congratulations", Kennedy's inquiry into space race, Johnson's response, Kennedy's "goal to put a man on the moon" speech and an article on the moon landing.

***Includes a GOOGLE version and a Traditional version for your use!

Product Includes documents related to the Cold War Space Race and reading comprehension questions for each one of the sources. Additionally, there are graphic organizers included to aid students in organizing their answers.
The comprehension questions may be answered individually, or worked through in pairs or small groups. This resource is designed for Middle School through high school students. It may be used in cross- curricular: learning the content, as well as practice of document analysis, and vocabulary learning.

Other ways in which this resource may be used:

-Divide the class into two groups: One group will defend the statement "The U.S.A won the space race". The other, will defend "The S.U. won the space race".

• - After students have become familiar with the sources of information and done some research on their own, each member of each group may defend the statement with facts found.

1 PDF with 4 ready to print pages for students to use

1 PowerPoint with 4 ready to display informational slides

Google version