A lesson on the moon

In July 1969, astronaut Neil Armstrong became the first human to land on the moon. Stepping off of his Apollo spacecraft, he uttered the famous words, "That's one small step for man ? one giant leap for mankind."

Down on earth, schoolteachers explained the moon mission to their classes ? with chalkboards, not computer screens. Thirty-seven years later, at Newport Heights Elementary School, technology continues to advance by leaps and bounds.

Last week at Newport Heights, Christelle Bunge's third-graders did a double lesson in the computer room. On one hand, they learned about the properties of the moon ? its material, its distance from the earth, its reasons for giving off light. At the same time, they took a small step toward the upper grades by creating their first-ever PowerPoint presentation.

The task was simple ? every student followed the same guidelines in creating two slides on the computer ? but it opened the door for more sophisticated projects in the future. PowerPoint has become a staple of classrooms and public meetings.

"It's the first step, and we don't want to get too creative," Bunge said. "But in the later grades, it's amazing what they do."

Jennifer Stevenson, a teacher on special assignment, led the course on Tuesday afternoon for Bunge's students. After showing a short animated film about the moon, Stevenson relayed some useful information to the class. He explained how the moon glows because it reflects light from the sun, that sound cannot travel on the moon's surface, and, according to one theory, the moon actually used to be a part of earth.

After starting their PowerPoint presentations, in which they composed text and pasted art from the Internet, students said they already had ideas for future ones. Reed Pfeiffer, 9, and Cory Kennedy, 8, wanted to create a presentation about building motorcycles, since they often went riding together.

Some of the information about the moon also came as a surprise, according to students.

"I didn't know the sun reflected off it to make it bright," Reed said. "I just thought one side was light, the other dark."

Carlee Kapana, 8, said she never knew that the moon grew less visible because of the sun growing brighter.

"I thought the clouds blocked it, because all the clouds come out during the day," she said.dpt.09-class-kt-CPhotoInfoCI1QODCD20060509iyygpbncKENT TREPTOW / DAILY PILOT(LA)Shawn Simmons, 9, works at the computer to create a PowerPoint presentation about the moon at Newport Heights Elementary School on Tuesday.