Now for something a little bit different:
Have a look at the activity "NASA Exercise - Lost on the Moon" (Chapter 10, page 430). I'd like you to complete the exercise, and then list your top five (i.e. most important) choices with an explanation as to why you chose them (keeping in mind the theory discussed in the chapter). Then consider what other group members have concluded. Do you agree with their choices?
I'll chime in later in the week with the "NASA Expert" answers, and we'll see what kind of congruence exists :o)
1. 200 pounds of oxygen
ReplyDelete2. five gallons of water
3. food concentrate
4. stellar map
5. solar powered FM radio transmitter (because the mother ship is on the lighted side of the moon- once you get in site, maybe you could use it)
I chose oxygen because it is a necessity for survival and we could not function without it. The same goes for water and food concentrate. These are the 3 most important items for survival. I chose the stellar map because this must be their means of navigation (I am assuming). I chose the radio transmitter because once the team reached the halfway point (sun in sight) they could communicate with the mother ship.
It was easy to eliminate a few items from the list automatically., i.e., matches, pistols, self-inflating life raft, heating unit, magnetic compass and signal flares (although I may be totally wrong with a few of these because maybe they can serve some sort of alternate purpose that I don't know about). I am not sure where the nylon rope, parachute silk, milk, and first aid kit would fit, or again if they serve some purpose I am not aware of.
Anyways, this is my best guess (:
Here are my top 5:
ReplyDelete1. Two 100 pound tanks of oxygen
2. Water
3. Stellar map
4. Nylon rope
5. Solar powered FM transmitter/receiver
Here is my rationale. A person cannot survive without oxygen, and only three days without water. The stellar map will keep the astronauts on course. The rope can be used to tie members to each other so they don’t get lost. Finally, if the crash happened on the dark side of the moon, there is still a chance that the group will have to travel in the light before they reach the mother ship. Taking the transmitter/receiver is a sensible gamble.
Anything requiring combustion or oxygen to work, will be ineffective (matches, flares, guns). The compass won't work on the moon either.
I will be interested to see what everyone else thinks.
So here's my top five. Like the others, I would definitely take the oxygen in order to survive. Secondly, because I do not function well without food I would go for the food concentrate. To my knowledge you need water to add to this wonderful powdered food so there's my next choice. After that I would take a first aid kit and the stellar map. I don't think that there would be much use for a life raft from what we know of the moon and even guns as I would not anticipate meeting up with any predators. I'm not sure if that's a winning plan or not but I would have to take my chances at that point.
ReplyDeleteGiven everyone’s responses, I am beginning to regret my decision not to take the dehydrated food. Likely if the decision had been made as a team, I would have been odd-woman out, and the food would have been taken on the trip rather than the transmitter. In any case, we will soon see what Professor Rob says!
ReplyDeleteAfter viewing Jackie's response and looking through the chapter I realized that I had not mentioned anywhere that it would have been a good idea to collaborate with the other members of the group. In a real life situation this would certainly be necessary for survival as I would need their buy-in and their cooperation. Others would have also pointed out flaws in my plan or certainly could have added more knowledge of their own to it.
ReplyDeleteHere we go - NASA's rankings of the items. Have a look at them (and the rationale for their inclusion) and then think about how your rankings compared. Why do you think your rankings were close / not so close to the experts? Do you think the results would have been different if you had made your decisions in a group, as opposed to as an individual? Why or why not?
ReplyDeleteNASA's rankings in order:
1. Oxygen tanks (air - gotta have it on the moon :o)
2. 5 gal. water (replacement for liquid loss)
3. Stellar map (primary means of navigation)
4. Food concentrate (efficient means of energy)
5. Solar powered transceiver (communication, but FM does require line of sight to work)
6. Nylon rope (useful in scaling cliffs, etc.)
7. First aid kit (syringes for vitamins, medicine)
8. Parachute silk (protection from sun's rays)
9. Self-inflating life raft (CO2 bottle could be used for propulsion)
10. Signal flares (distress signal if ship is sighted)
11. .45 cal pistols (possible means of propulsion)
12. Dehydrated milk concentrate (bulkier duplicate of food)
13. Heating unit (not needed unless on dark side)
14. Magnetic compass (moon's magnetic field not polarized - useless)
15. Box of matches (no O2 on the moon 0 worthless)
See, I would have been voted off the island! Sigh, hungry and floating around in space.
ReplyDeleteThe teamwork approach likely would have enabled the group to make quicker decisions, with consensus on what to take. And the likelihood of the group being right would have been higher.
The power of teamwork.
Jackie
1.2-100 pounds of oxygen
ReplyDelete2. Five gallons of water
3. Food concentrate
4. Stellar map
5. First Aid Kit
6. Solar powered transceiver
7.Signal flares
8.Nylon rope
9.Dehydrated milk concentrate
10.Heating unit
These are my top 10 items. I believe that every got the same top three because Oxygen, water and food are key to someone’s survival. Obviously we are lost so the map would be very valuable to the team. The first Aid kit is also a key item simply because if anyone was hurt they could be taken care of. With the solar powered transceiver I wasn’t too sure if this was a great item, what good is it if we have crashed on the dark side of the moon where there is no sunlight. The flares not are great to let the rescuers know that the victims of the crash are still alive. I really like what Jackie had to say about using the rope to tie people together so the don’t get lost. Because we are on the dark side of the moon, I think the heating unit would be a very valuable item. I decide that the dehydrated milk would be important because when people are lost / stranded there is always a worry of starving to death.
I think the top 3 choices I made would have been the same if this was a group decision simply because these thing are key to surviving. After the first three people might have some different opinions. The value of a team is so great because it gives different perspective. Different team members bring different expertise so what I believe is important at number 5 could quite possible be last on the list. I guess the old saying is right "two heads are better than one".
One of the disadvantages of the teamwork approach in my eye is that it would take a while to come to a concrete decision because there might be a bit of debating between items and their importance to the team. But, I do agree with Jackie when she says, "the likelihood of the group being right would have been higher"
It would have been more beneficial to work as a group to make a conclusion because everyone could bring something different to the table. Each person could have different reasoning for bringing each item. Everyone could really contemplate the objects by discussing everyone's rationale. You could be exposed to something you never thought of.
ReplyDeleteThat being said, there are disadvantages to working in a group as well. If there are too many individuals part of a group, certain people could from cliques which would prolong the decision making process because of different views. Also, the group think theory may prohibit the group from coming up with the best possible answer. Some individuals would be apt to stay quiet when they have an opposing view (which could be for the better in some cases). But I do agree with Kemoy when he said that he believes the top 3 choices would have been the same regardless.
I think there must be some sort of balance between the number of people in a group, and the outcome of the results. You want to have enough heads to come up with a successful result, but you don't want to have too many as then you may experience group think, or cliques.
Heather makes an excellent point about the size of the group. In the Rocket Model exercise that we did this week, I evaluated a team that had 13 members on it. When the team was constructed, I had a real fear that there were too many members. Luckily it worked out in a positive way, but it was a very large group.
ReplyDeleteWhile we are discussing the rocket model, one other point is the recruitment of talent. If we use the same model for the selection of Astronauts for the lunar mission, we could assume that the team members were selected for the skill and expertise they brought to the group, as well, as their ability to form a cohesive unit. Based on this fact, I believe that they would have been fairly adept at deciding what to bring on the search for the mother ship, and that it would not have taken them too long to decide. You never know, though, sometimes these smart people get stuck too!
My top 5 choices would have been as follows:
ReplyDelete1.) Oxygen
Oxygen is necessary to sustain life.
2.) Water
Water is necessary to sustain life.
My guess is that water could be used as a coolant in an emergency
3.) Food
Food is necessary to sustain life.
4.) Transmitter
Can be used as a means of
navigation/communication.
5.) Map
Can be used as a means of navigation.
If we worked in a group to discuss the pros and cons of each item, I believe there would be more congruence than if everybody was left to their own faculties to decide the items.
However, I am not surprised that almost everybody had Oxygen, Food, and Water on their personal lists as these items are required to sustain life.
This discussion is now closed! Thanks Everyone!
ReplyDelete