Katherine Johnson: How One Life Changed the World

Questions

1. Sequence Which of these happened first?

   Johnson helped equip ambulances with X-ray machines to treat soldiers in World War I Johnson began working as a mathematician at the agency that later became NASA Johnson was made a member of a British society of arts Johnson checked the computer's numbers for John Glenn's orbit around Earth
2. Sequence Which of these happened last?

   Johnson calculated the flight path for the first American in space Johnson began working as a mathematician at the agency that later became NASA Johnson received the Presidential Medal of Freedom Johnson checked the computer's numbers for John Glenn's orbit around Earth
3. Details In what year did this happen? "Johnson helped calculate the path of the Apollo 11 mission to the Moon."

   1979 1961 1969 1962
4. Timeline math How many years passed between these two events? First: "Johnson checked the computer's numbers for John Glenn's orbit around Earth." Later: "She helped calculate the path of the Apollo 11 mission to the Moon."

   51 8 6 7
5. Timeline math About how old was Johnson in 1962?

   56 44 39 49
6. Vocabulary In the passage, what does "orbit" mean?

   the curved path an object takes around a planet or star a solid whose tiny particles are arranged in a repeating pattern the remains or traces of a living thing from long ago, preserved in rock carefully watching something to learn about it
7. Character traits Which word best describes Katherine Johnson?

   unkind bored brilliant careless
8. Evidence Which detail from the passage shows that Johnson was brilliant?

   She sat quietly in the forest for months before the chimpanzees let her come close. Women were not allowed to attend university in Poland, so she studied in secret and later moved to Paris to continue. She finished high school at 14 and college at 18. As a child she dreamed of flying and went on to study aerospace engineering.
9. Main idea What is this passage mostly about?

   the life and work of Alexander Graham Bell the life and work of Ada Lovelace the life and work of Katherine Johnson the life and work of Marie Curie
10. Text structure How does the author organize the middle of the passage?

    as a list of steps to follow in time order, from earlier events to later ones from most important to least important event as a problem and its solution
11. Author's purpose Why does the author end with the final paragraph?

    to tell a funny story to show that her work still matters today to describe where the person grew up to explain how to do an experiment

See all your scores