Making and Confirming Predictions Answers

Read the excerpt from "Majority of Americans Believe It Is Essential That the U.S. Remain a Global Leader in Space.”Majorities say the International Space Station has been a good investment for the country and that, on balance, NASA is still vital to the future of U.S. space exploration even as private space companies emerge as increasingly important players.Roughly seven-in-ten Americans (72%) say it is essential for the U.S. to continue to be a world leader in space exploration, and eight-in-ten (80%) say the space station has been a good investment for the country, according to a new Pew Research Center survey conducted March 27–April 9, 2018.These survey results come at a time when NASA finds itself in a much different world from the one that existed when the Apollo astronauts first set foot on the moon nearly half a century ago. The Cold War space race has receded into history, but other countries (including China, Japan and India) have emerged as significant international players in space exploration.

Read the excerpt from "As Debris Piles Up, Americans Are Skeptical Enough Will Be Done to Limit Space Junk.”But most of the orbital debris is space-age flotsam and jetsam, such as spent rocket stages, screws and lens caps. There are about 23,000 detectable objects at least 2 to 4 inches in size in low-Earth orbit (the preferred altitude for most satellites and space missions) or about 1 to 3 feet in size in geostationary orbit (the ideal altitude for surveillance and communications satellites).What’s more, these objects can create more pieces of debris when they collide with one another or explode in orbit, due to leftover fuel or battery failures. Around 290 such "fragmentation events” are known to have occurred since 1961, creating an estimated 750,000 objects larger than about 0.5 inches in size. Circling the Earth at speeds around 10 times faster than a bullet, the kinetic energy of even miniscule objects can pack a punch strong enough to puncture the hull of a space station or damage solar panels and communication arrays.

What can be used to identify patterns and predict what comes next?

An informational pamphlet explains the new exhibits in an art museum. Which text feature would be most helpful for making a prediction about the exhibits?

Which text features provide additional information about details in a text?

A student is reading an article titled "Bay Window Repair” and sees the signal words "first,” "next,” and "then.”Based on these text features, what is the best prediction of what the article will be about?

Review the image and excerpt from "As Debris Piles Up, Americans Are Skeptical Enough Will Be Done to Limit Space Junk.”As more satellites are launched into space, the probability of collisions grows. There are, however, preventive measures that could mitigate the problem. For instance, engineers are developing technology to facilitate the venting of leftover fuel, thereby averting explosions in orbit. Or, satellites could be equipped with low-tech devices, such as balloons, that would enable Earth-based operators to guide them into the atmosphere—where they would burn up—at the end of their operational lifetimes.

Read the heading included in a text.Landscaping to Conserve Water Made Easy with Native Plants

What is the first step in confirming and correcting predictions about a nonfiction text?

Read the excerpt from "Majority of Americans Believe It Is Essential That the U.S. Remain a Global Leader in Space.”Strong public support that the U.S. should continue to be at the vanguard of space exploration is widely shared across gender, educational and political groups. Each generational group, for example, expresses nearly equal levels of strong support for continued U.S. space leadership—from Baby Boomer and older generations (71%) who lived through the "Right Stuff” era that pioneered space exploration to Millennials (70%) who grew up during the space shuttle program. Indeed, on most issues regarding NASA and space exploration, there are no more than modest differences among the generational cohorts.Similarly, majorities across gender, generation, education and political groups see benefits from government investment in one of NASA’s signature projects, the International Space Station (ISS). The findings—support for the U.S. being at the forefront of space exploration and the perception that the space station has been a good investment—are broadly consistent with previous Pew Research Center surveys, which used somewhat different wording and polling methods.