The Martian Should Stay in the Curriculum for Eighth-Graders Argumentative Essay

The Martian, by Andy Weir, is said to be an entertaining book for all ages. We believe that it should stay in the curriculum for eighth-graders. We found it beneficial for at least three classes, which include Science, English/ELA, and Civics. Our great teachers in the field of math/algebra and Spanish could probably find a way to include the book and its concepts into their classes. The three topics we will discuss with you to try and win you over are: It provides a fun activity in science class where you can build a water bottle rocket and can compare it with rockets in The Martian. The second reason is it is a fun, entertaining book to read and can get the students to talk in class to each other which could lead to increased social skills. Finally, the third reason is it can give the teachers across the eighth-grade team’s lessons to give the students.  Those are our three reasons why you should keep The Martian in the eighth-grade curriculum. 

The Martian is about a man named Mark Watney, who is an astronaut that specializes in botany. On the sixth Sol of a thirty-one-Sol exploration on the surface of Mars. Mark and his five crew members Commander Lewis, Martinez, Vogel, Bech, and Joehanesen are informed that there is a strong dust storm heading right at them at a  dangerous level for them, and there shelter the Hab. With the decision of Commander Lewis and NASA, they abandon their mission and gear up to head to the MAV the Mars Ascent Vehicle and flee. As the crew is walking through the harsh storm a satellite pole breaks off and rips through the debris-filled air and strikes Mark in the abdomen, therefore, resulting in him getting thrown deeper into the storm. Commander Lewis ordered everyone to get to the MAV while she searched for Mark. Once she saw that his vitals indicated that he was dead she retreated back to the MAV and instructed Pilot Martinez to start the engine and launch. The rest of the story follows Mark’s actions during his time desperately trying to survive. The story is about Mark and all the entertaining events that involved his ups and downs during this crucial time in his life with NASA trying to bring him back home. 

Now that you have a background on the book, we want to explain our first reason. We believe that reading this book not only helps English but that it may help in other topics too like science. It gives the science teacher a unit to teach on space and matter in motion. We asked a science teacher( Mr. Richard) from 8A at the North Andover Middle School about the unit of space, rocketry, and matter and also how it connects with The Martian. This is what he had to say;  “We interact with matter with everything in our life. This unit helps I feel students understand where the matter came from and how it interacts with them in their everyday life. I really like the rocket building project cause I feel it lets students show their creativity and how they can compare and contrast to the rockets in the movie.” As the teacher said he loves this unit and how it collaborates with English class. This unit can include rocketry, how matter was created, and space.  We observed as students built their rockets either alone or in a group of two. We noticed that they were excited to come to class every day that they had a hands-on project to work on that involves some competition. This might inspire children to give their maximum effort to the project and be inspired to learn more about engineering and rocket science. Students may also compare their rockets with the rocket designs that they use in The Martian, as it is the same concept. While there are no pictures in the book, there is an award-winning film The Martian. Some science teachers showed extracts from the movie at the parts where the rockets were shown in the film. Then the kids will be able to make comparisons and make a scientific guess as to if that rocket would work in real life. We strongly believe that keeping The Martian in the curriculum will help improve the curiosity of children." 

Our second topic is that The Martian is a fun and entertaining read. It can assist English teachers with lessons revolving around the book and topics within the book. We asked some children how they liked to read The Martian and almost all answers were very positive. We asked them whether they believe the book should stay in the curriculum for the upcoming year, and almost everyone said yes.  We asked an eighth-grade English teacher (Mr. Sillitti), to describe why he likes The Martian as a good kid read. He said, “I believe the ability to connect the novel to story elements is invaluable to my teaching!” As you can see, a great Eighth grade English teacher thinks it is great for the eighth-grade curriculum. We observed in Mr. Sillitti's class, he used the book to describe valuable subjects such as mood, theme, and irony. To help the students understand these valuable concepts that are also included in the curriculum. That’s been our second reason why we believe that The Martian should remain in the Eighth-grade curriculum.

For the last reason, it can give teachers on a student team lessons in all types of classes. For example, on team eight A at the North Andover Middle School we observed teacher Ms. Gaffney (eighth-grade civics teacher) teach a lesson with students creating a civilization on a newly colonized planet called Mars. It also gives the students the creativity to use topics like government, the three branches, and rule of law are examples. That have been taught in class and gives them a spot to show what they have learned creatively. 

To summarize our whole argument, we will repeat what students and teachers take away from reading this book. We believe that in science the teacher can make a project for water bottle rockets. This will give lessons to teachers and help students understand key topics such as Newton's law of motion, how gravity and magnetism affect the earth and rockets. Lastly, it can encourage children to seek to learn more about engineering or rocketry. Then, another key subject is that it can help with children's social skills because in ELA they might have homework to read up to a certain place. Then they need to communicate about what went on at the time. Also, it can help the English teachers get a point around valuable concepts like theme, plot, or irony when they try to teach a lesson. Then, for our last key topic, we believe that it will help kids create and give them a spot to show it in Civics. They can do a project where they make a civilization using all the key topics they learned throughout the year. This may provide students with a scene to show what they have learned and their creativity. Therefore, The Martian should remain in the Grade Eight programs.