Lesson Plan: Searching for the Titanic

Essential Questions

• What makes humans want to explore?
• How does technology shape our understanding of the world?

Literature Connection

• Graphic novel: I Survived the Sinking of the Titanic, 1912 by Lauren Tarshis
• Nonfiction: The Mystery of the Titanic: A Historical Investigation for Kids by Kelly Milner Halls

Preview Text Features (15 minutes)

Guide students to locate the article. Preview the text features by asking the following questions:

• Read the article’s title and subtitle (the text beneath the title). Then look at the image at the beginning of the article. Based on what you see, what do you think you’ll learn from the article? Based on the image (and students’ own knowledge), this story is about a ship that sank. Based on the title and subtitle, readers will learn about someone who looked for the ship and whether they found it.
• Look at the photos of the Titanic in the sidebar “Ship of Dreams” and read their captions. What do these photos and captions tell you about the Titanic? The photos and captions tell you that the Titanic was a very fancy ship. It had a grand wooden staircase; a swimming pool; a dining room that served expensive foods; and running water, which was a luxury at the time.
• Look at the map. Where in the world did the Titanic sink? The Titanic sank in the Atlantic Ocean.

Preview Vocabulary (10 minutes)

• Point out the vocabulary box. Read the words (voyage, wreck, plunged, discouraged, debris) aloud and discuss their definitions.
• Play the Vocabulary Slideshow.

Make a Plan for Reading 

Before students start to read, walk them through a reading plan:

• Set a purpose for reading by telling students that they will find text evidence in “Searching for the Titanic” that supports important ideas about how Robert Ballard discovered the Titanic shipwreck.
• Point out the Pause and Think boxes. Tell students they can check their understanding of what they’ve read by answering these questions.
• Point out the activity at the end of the story and tell students they will complete it after reading. Tell them to keep the Think About It! question at the bottom in mind as they read.
• Tell students that as they finish each section, they should think about how the text features on the page (e.g., photos, captions, and section headings) relate to what they’ve just read.

Guide students to read the article. Once they understand it well, discuss the following close-reading and critical-thinking questions.

Close-Reading Questions (15 minutes)

• How did people react to the Titanic’s sinking in 1912? Why do you think they reacted this way? (cause and effect) People were shocked by the sinking of the Titanic. The ship was famous, built from the strongest steel, and thought to be “unsinkable.” When it sank, and more than 1,500 people died, the news was hard to believe. 
• What prevented humans from exploring the deep sea until the 1960s? What new invention in the 1960s changed that? (problem and solution) Before the 1960s, people couldn’t explore the deep sea because they didn’t have a way to deal with water pressure. Water pressure is the force of water pushing against the body from all directions. As water gets deeper, water pressure becomes stronger, preventing a person from breathing and restricting their blood flow. In the 1960s, the invention of a tiny submarine called a submersible allowed explorers to travel miles down in the ocean. 
• How was Argo different from other submersibles of its time? (compare and contrast) Argo was different from other submersibles in that it was remote-controlled. It didn’t need a human to go inside, so it could stay down longer than other submersibles and didn’t endanger human lives. Also, it was covered with cameras, so it could take pictures and videos that scientists could watch from a ship above.

Critical-Thinking Questions (10 minutes)

• When Ballard discovered the Titanic, he didn’t take any of the treasures he found. He wanted to honor the memory of those who had lost their lives. Do you think he made the  right choice, or should he have removed objects from the wreck? (critical thinking) Answers will vary. Students may argue that Ballard did the right thing because taking objects from the wreck would be disrespectful to those who died. Others may say that objects should have been removed because the Titanic is an important piece of history, and studying the objects helps experts learn more about the ship, the disaster, and the time period—or simply because many people are fascinated by the objects and no one can see them if they are on the seafloor.
• Why do you think humans have a desire to explore the world, and in particular, dangerous places like the deep sea? (making connections) Answers will vary. Students may say that humans explore because we are curious about our world. Another reason could be that we are looking for something in particular, like the Loch Ness Monster or the wreckage of the Titanic. Humans may also be driven to explore because they want to become famous.

• Have students work in pairs to complete the Spotlight Skill Workout: Text Evidence activity. As a class, discuss students’ answers and the Think About It! question.
• Have students work independently to complete our Central Idea and Details Skill Builder, available in higher- and lower-level versions. (Click here to view all your Skill Builders for this article.)
• Writing prompt: What challenges did Robert Ballard face while searching for the Titanic? How did he overcome those challenges? Answer the questions in a well-organized paragraph. Support your answer with details from the article.