HELP NEEDED - Interesting Facts?

[stevetynant]

How I've got myself roped into this I don't know but.........

My wife is a teacher in a local primary school and since I've taken up this hobby , which is only since Christmas this year really, she has been telling the children in her classes about my adventures with my scope and they are now all fired up to get me into the school next year with my scope to give the kids a talk about astronomy and take the scope along to let them see for themselves. This will teach me for boring Amanda each evening when I come in after dark and think she's not really listening in the same way as I do when she talks curtains lol.

She's now got the head mistress interested aswel so I don't think I'm going to get out of it without letting her down so -- what I was hoping for was some help - just some interesting facts that I can hook 7-10 years on for a few minutes.

The whole thing is probably going to be only an hour after school in October.

On the Observing front I'm hoping M42 will be in town and also Jupiter on view which should be really interesting for children to see in a scope but I'm going to put a power point presentation with plenty of graphics together for before we go out - 10 minutes tops I would think.

I've got some time to get this together but my initial thoughts are just to try and get them to understand the vast distances we are talking about --the fact that when we look at these objects its not the actual full colour view that they may see on hubble photos but the fact given the distances we can see things at all.

Speed of light 180,000 miles per second- light coming from some of these objects left millions of years ago - this kind of thing.

Please don't worry about the children - I've got to run my presentation past the head first to see if its suitable but any interesting facts I can use for this purpose I would be more than grateful for your contribution - don't forget the target group are only 7-10 year olds.

begging letter concluded - thanks for your thoughts

Steve

[Andrew*]

I'm doing a teacher training course at the moment and I would suggest the children are too young for those kind of intellectual considerations. These distances and speeds are a challenge for adults to understand, let alone 7-year olds. That won't capture their imagination.

Keep it simple and try to appeal to their senses. Introduce them to the sun's family and show them pictures of all the planets and the sun itself. Tell a bit about how some go closely round the sun and are only morning or evening stars and others are so far out you can't even see them with your eyes. Some are rocky so we can stand on them, others are just like air and you would fall right into them if you tried to land there. The colours of the planets will be appealing too. This kind of thing they will be able to relate to and it will spark their imagination.

The solar system could easily use up an hour, but if you must go beyond, again appeal to their senses, not intellect.

HTH

Andrew

[Andrew*]

I have made up a little model solar system, which might be helpful to present it visually. On my scale, earth is 8mm, Jupiter is 95mm and the sun is about a metre across. Of course you might struggle to find a huge sphere, but outstretched hands should elicit a gasp!

[stevetynant]

Brilliant - thanks Andrew appreciate the feedback - my wife said pretty much the same thing about the distances - glad I put it out there now for some second opinions

best regds Steve

[Nillchill]

Steve, might I suggest approaching the Heads of the valleys astro society.

we have done a number of outreach programmes to schools in conjunction with Usk Astro society, both have access to a planetarium, and a multitude of information and additional resources.

I can contact either of them on your behalf if you would like some support with this.

please drop me a message with your contact details.

cheers

[Phil Fargaze]

A good way to get distance and size across is to use a scale they can relate to, such as `if that chair is the sun, then earth would be on the playing field` and so on. You would need to do a certain amount of research to get some good examples. Be prepared for questions, lots of them. Actually, nothing will prepare you for every question but just do your best. I helped the local Brownies do their astronomy badge and it was very rewarding to see their amazement when I showed them Mars and the Moon. You will be surprised at the time it might take to get lots of children a view through the scope. My method was to have a group of six at the scope whilst the rest can be indoors doing something else, like drawing their own planet. This would need the help of another few adults/teachers.

[stevetynant]

Thanks Nilchill - thats really kind of you.

I think I'll talk it through with my wife first to see what she feels about that - if theres help available and theres already an outreach program in place potentially for schools in the area that might be something that the school would want to pursue rather than getting my completely amatuer input - on the other hand it could be that they prefer to keep it very low key for the first time.

Thanks for the offer though - I'll run it past her in the morning and get in touch.

[garethmob]

i would second the HOVAS dave thomas is an amazing guy and a teacher him self, they do have a really good planetarium (inflatable) and the talks iv hered dave give are really really good.

id be more than happy to help with anything too steve, any extra scopes or a hand or anything. i used to have to give talks to younger kids all the time when i was in college, one of the disadvantages of being president of the student union

[stevetynant]

A good way to get distance and size across is to use a scale they can relate to, such as `if that chair is the sun, then earth would be on the playing field` and so on. You would need to do a certain amount of research to get some good examples. Be prepared for questions, lots of them. Actually, nothing will prepare you for every question but just do your best. I helped the local Brownies do their astronomy badge and it was very rewarding to see their amazement when I showed them Mars and the Moon. You will be surprised at the time it might take to get lots of children a view through the scope. My method was to have a group of six at the scope whilst the rest can be indoors doing something else, like drawing their own planet. This would need the help of another few adults/teachers.

thanks Phil - thats great feedback - am glad I asked the question on the forum now - have time to think about this - maybe I'm taking on something I'm not equipped for. On the other hand there will be other teachers and adult there - just need to prepare well in advance and make sure I've considered everything - or as much as I can at least.

[stevetynant]

i would second the HOVAS dave thomas is an amazing guy and a teacher him self, they do have a really good planetarium (inflatable) and the talks iv hered dave give are really really good.

id be more than happy to help with anything too steve, any extra scopes or a hand or anything. i used to have to give talks to younger kids all the time when i was in college, one of the disadvantages of being president of the student union

Thanks Gaz - I'm starting to wonder whether this would be the best route for the kids - I'll talk to the wife in the morning.

Appreciate your support though

cheers

Steve

[JamesM]

I think the idea of relating distances to objects that they can relate to is a good one, especially as planets and stars in space are sooooooo big! By way of example, the Garnet star (which is a great object to view in the scope) is so big, that you would need two Golden Gate bridges placed end to end to represent its diameter, if the earth was the size of a ping pong ball placed at one end. Or alternatively, the gap between both of the stars in albireo, is twice the size of our solar system.

There are many of these comparison examples out there that can help understand the vastness of space and the objects exist within it and that will certainly help bring your presentation alive, particularly if they are then able to view the same objects later through a scope. I totally agree with Phil's suggestion of getting them to do activities. Rather than say talk about the sun and the planets moving around it, get a child to volunteer being the sun with others being the planets orbiting - it is fun to do and helps maintain their attention rather than just presenting facts from the front. Sure there is some work needed to put it together and a little rehearsal to make sure it all comes out right, but if you succeed, you can wheel it out to other classes year after year - I know you wanted me to say that! :D:D

James

[Nillchill]

Steve, The offer was to give support to you, I hope you don't feel that i was suggesting they would be better placed to lead it, over you. that certainly wasn't my intention.

i would second the HOVAS dave thomas is an amazing guy and a teacher him self, they do have a really good planetarium (inflatable) and the talks iv hered dave give are really really good.

(

Gareth, I hope you don't mind me correcting you, here. but Mike Thomas is the Secretary from HOVAS and Dave Thomas is the President of USK Astronomical Society. I have heard both of them hold talks and both are superb orators on the subject of astronomy and space travel to all age groups and level of ability

[garethmob]

noooo thats fine i always got them mixed up try being in the same room as them lol as im a gareth thomas it was always good fun both give cracking talks together and seperate, i was helping at a out reach in caldicot 2 years ago and they were amazing in the way they simplified the basic as well as the complicated for every one to understand

[Nillchill]

cheers Gareth,

Steve,

just a way you could relate size of the solar system, this could be done in a playground exercise.

If the Sun were the size of a basketball, the earth would be a small pea, 30 metres away from the sun and jupiter would be aping pong ball 170 metres from the sun,

[JamesF]

The size comparison I've seen that I think works well for children is to show pieces of fruit in the same proportion as the planets. You still need something enormous for the sun however.

I think you can do some "intellectual" stuff with them, but it has to be done in a way that they can relate to. For example (and I'm not particularly suggesting that you do this), you could demonstrate why the moon "changes shape" by actually getting some children to act out the parts of the sun, earth and moon.

Even explaining that our sun is actually a star just like all those others they can see will be something most children have never really thought about.

James

[Helen]

Sounds like a challenge Steve! There are some great resources on the BBC stargazing live site http://www.bbc.co.uk/tv/features/stargazing/star-guides.shtml including the scale of the universe using fruit...

I think you should plan it for an evening with some moon

Have fun

Helen

[stevetynant]

Steve, The offer was to give support to you, I hope you don't feel that i was suggesting they would be better placed to lead it, over you. that certainly wasn't my intention.

Hi Nilchill - thats no issue at all - I'm only glad you and others here are already helping and I appreciate your support in this.

I've quickly come to realise what a friendly and supportive bunch astronomers in general are since I've been part of this forum

Actually listening to all the suggestions I'm getting quite excited about it myself some great ideas coming forward - thanks to everyone who's contributed so far - it is very much appreciated.

regds Steve

[Steve Ward]

You could show them this , great for showing scale of thing big and small.

http://htwins.net/scale2/