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Anonymous
Unregistered
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My 10 year old nephew is really interested in astronomy (I must take the blame here, I've given him a scope and taken him out at weekands and school holidays lol). A few weeks ago, I was "volunteered" by him to show my scopes and give a general talk on astronomy to his school. It went OK, and the head teacher asked me if I would go again. This ti,me, it will be to the whole school, rather than just my nephews class. The children will range in age from 6 to 11 years old. Any suggestions will be very welcome
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dgs©
Postmaster
Reged: 03/29/04
Posts: 15091
Loc: West Monroe, Louisiana
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Look at the very top of this forum for a 'pinned' thread called "Outreach Planning / Teaching Aids / Class Handouts". That has links to a bunch of useful stuff for school programs.
I suggest planning a night event as well... maybe in the school play yard. These events are always a great deal of fun, and gets your nephew some extra prestige around school. Might want to wait until spring for that... weather is nicer and Saturn will be up at a school kid friendly hour. But there is always the moon if you think the cold won't keep many away.
I've done this several times, and sometimes the science teacher will give extra points to the kids who come... always increases attendance. 
Add a solar filter and you could cap off your class room talk with a look at some sunspots, assuming there are any visible the day you do the presentation.
Good luck, and good on you for being an ambassador for the hobby. 
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- david
8"Ø Newtonian on SVP, Moonlite CR2, Telrad
PST Oberwerk Ultra 15x70 Orion Ultraview 10×50
Hand-me-down Sears Refractor (Discoverer) 60mm×900mm
"What we have done for ourselves alone dies with us; what we have done for others and the world, remains and is immortal." --Albert Pike
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David Pavlich
Transmographied
Reged: 05/18/05
Posts: 21117
Loc: Mandeville, LA USA
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I've done one talk, but it was kids and their parents. Actually, it was 3 groups, so I had to speak 3 times. I found after the first one that you definately want to skip the technical stuff. I had a refractor on a GEM on display and got WAY too involved in the mechanics of the scope/mount. Fun for me but the kid's eyes were glazing over. The remaining groups got a tiny dose of the mechanics of it all, but I went into why we do what we do. I got a lot more questions about all the "cool stuff" we look at relative to the scope/mount itself.
It sure is fun! Our club is doing an outreach tomorrow night. Can't wait!!
David
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Money can't buy happiness, but it sure makes misery easier to live with.
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Rusty
Postmaster
Reged: 08/06/03
Posts: 19246
Loc: Brooker, FL
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I second the idea of a nighttime session, especially now since nightfall is earlier.
Our club does 4-6 a year.
What we do is to figure out what astronomical goodies will be around (hopefully the Moon or planets), then get together with the teacher/s so they can get the kids interested in the classroom on those specific things (three to five items are plenty, since there'll be a line at the scopes). We also do daytime astronomy, but the Sun has been featureless every time.
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N11GPS Fastar//TOA-130S//MK66 Std//AT6RC//Vintage C5//Megrez II 80mm APO//SolarMax 40
NJP Temma II//Sirius EQ-G
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Two not-spoiled Golden Retrievers - Casey and Nelson
Lot 19 Deerlick Astronomy Village (Canis Major)
Sometimes I think we're alone in the universe, and sometimes I think we're not. In either case the idea is quite staggering. - Arthur C. Clarke
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Indefatigable
professor emeritus
Reged: 08/29/06
Posts: 579
Loc: Toronto
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It's amazing how many complicated concepts kids can understand. Just keep the language simple.
I can't remember in what context I had used the word, but I once had a Brownie ask me what 'density' meant after I was finished a talk. Don't fake it or use the wrong words, just figure out some other way of saying it.
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Brenda
Skywatcher Pro 80ED
Synscan NEQ3
Meade DSI Pro
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AstroArlo
sage
Reged: 01/29/06
Posts: 427
Loc: Jackson Hole, Wyoming
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Mix some hands-on with the lecture. Kid's short attention span limits how long you can talk. It's best if you talk for about 15 minutes, then do some hands-on. If you mix it up like this you can go much longer.
I do many talks on Astronomy and Geology for 4th graders, middle school, and High School. And I agree with the post above, kids are capable of understanding really complicated concepts, if clearly explained.
Be careful, it's easy to get hooked on helping the kids out. And if you do a good job (it sounds like you did!), you'll get asked more and more, teachers really like good resouces outside of the school.
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Best Regards, Arlo
Grand Cosmic Observatory, Jackson Hole, Wyoming
CATS/CASS - 20" RCOS Ritchey-Chretien, C14, C8
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MOUNTS - Paramount ME, Losmandy GM200, Takahashi EM-100
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Richard B. Drumm
Pooh-Bah
Reged: 07/14/05
Posts: 1486
Loc: Albemarle Co. Virginia
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It's always a good idea to do a scale solar system activity to get them thinking about how BBBIIIGGG space is. Go to a local toy store and get a little "superball" like ball, preferably yellow, about 1" in diameter. Then when in the classroom (or wherever) pull the ball out and say "If this ball is the sun, how far away should Mercury (Venus, Earth, Alpha Centauri, etc) be?
Here's the info to have on a card in your pocket:
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Body -- Diam -- Orbit radius
----------------------------
Sun -- 1"
Mercury -- .0034" -- 3' 5.63"
Venus -- .0086" -- 6' 5.67"
Earth -- .0091" -- 8' 11.45"
Mars -- .0048" -- 13' 7.68"
Jupiter -- .1002" -- 46' 7.04"
Saturn -- .0836" -- 85' 5.21"
Uranus -- .0337" -- 171' 10.14"
Neptune -- .0326" -- 269' 4.91"
Pluto -- .001" -- 354' 0.15"
Light speed: .215"/sec.
Light year: 107.2 mi.
Alpha Centauri: ------ 458 mi.
Sirius: -------------- 926.8 mi.
Deneb: -------------150,396.6 mi.
Galactic center: -- 2,972,544.1 mi.
Betelgeuse dia: 31.2 ft.
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The distance to Rigil Kentaurus (Alpha Cent) of 458 miles makes (from a starting point here in central Virginia) the nearest star location as Gay Head, the westernmost point of Martha's Vineyard! This makes a good starting point to talk about galactic mergers, because you can tell them to imagine a galaxy of balls like the one in your hand passing through each other with densities like 400-500 miles between "stars"! No wonder they pass through each other like a ghost! You can also talk about how darn amazing it is that a glowing ball that size can be seen from 450 + miles away!
If the weather is good and you can go outside, you can get some of those little wire flags that are used on construction sites (Lowe's has them) and glue little pieces of cardboard to them. With a 1" circle for the sun, a dot for everybody but the gas giants, measure out the distances and plant the flags as you go. A measuring wheel with foot counter makes this very easy.
Here's the website I found that gave me the scale:
Exploratorium "Build a Solar System" page.
If the only ball you can find is larger (or smaller) then you can enter the size into that web page's calculator and get the dimensions that are correct for your "sun" !!!
Rich
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AKA Richard Drumm The Astronomy Bum
Orion Atlas 10 (10" Newt on an equatorial mount)
Celestron 15x70 SkyMaster Binocs
Coronado Ha PST
President, Charlottesville Astronomical Society
IOTA member
38° 10' 57"N, 78° 23' 09"W
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knuklhdastnmr
Fumble feet
Reged: 02/24/05
Posts: 6330
Loc: Beerpuddle, Colorado
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One thing that I found useful with kids about that age was based on the power of a name.
They enjoyed watching the scope slew about and they Oh'd and Aw'd properly at nebulae and clusters. But, it was hard to hold their interest for long taking turns at the eyepiece.
The activity they seemed to enjoy most was laying on their ground sheet and sleeping bags, in a tight cluster with me in the center.
First, we'd get out the flash lights and I would excitedly tell them to point at this tree or that rock. Then I'd pick something really far away and have them point at that. When no appreciable amount of light fell on the distant object I announced that the flashlights had served their purpose and should now be put away because we were going to look at things much more distant.
We'd talk about eyes and dark adaptation for a bit. As our eyes adapted we looked at some of the same objects we had shone the flashlights on and compared visible details. They began to get the idea of the limitations of flashlights.
When well dark adapted I'd get out my laser pointer and start an easy tour of the sky, naming constellations and stars. Where possible I'd point out any fuzzys.
Names are powerful things. When something is named it starts to become familar. Familar is much less scary than unknown. For many of these kids, it was their first experience under an unconfined dark sky. Some were spending their first night out in a sleeping bag or tent. When you name a constellation or a star for them, it brings the stars in for them. They become part of a comfortable landscape.
I only had a couple of kids who either weren't interested or insisted on retreating to the tents or whatever. Most happily fell asleep all around me under the stars.
At least, until I started to snore. . . .
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Knucklhead Astronomer
Obession 18 Classic named "Ed"
Observing Reports by Knuk
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Richard B. Drumm
Pooh-Bah
Reged: 07/14/05
Posts: 1486
Loc: Albemarle Co. Virginia
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I'm going to make a mental note to do that sometime next summer! That sounds like fun for all involved.
Thanks! I mean that!
Rich
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AKA Richard Drumm The Astronomy Bum
Orion Atlas 10 (10" Newt on an equatorial mount)
Celestron 15x70 SkyMaster Binocs
Coronado Ha PST
President, Charlottesville Astronomical Society
IOTA member
38° 10' 57"N, 78° 23' 09"W
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b1gred
Enginerd
Reged: 04/01/04
Posts: 16902
Loc: Castle Rock, CO 6677' MSL
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I've done several presentations to Boy Scouts regarding astronomy. One tool I love to use is one of the astronomy programs - projected with an LCD projector. Several of the programs have representations of the solar system, and then allow you to project different parts of the sky, showing constellations, etc. Cartes du Ceil is great for this AND it's free...
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"Dark Skies & Great Viewing"
RandyR / W0RDR
GPS 9.25 XLT/Sky Align /FeatherTouch
TV85 w/FeatherTouch
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snorkler
Aperture Aficionado
Reged: 10/11/04
Posts: 10041
Loc: Bay Area, California
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We did solar programs as part of Bryce Canyon National Park's outreach to local school systems this Fall. We'd get a whole school district's 4th graders, or 4th to 6th graders. Each class would be 15-20 students, and we'd have them for about 1/2 hour.
During that half hour, we did a solar system model with a 16" poster of the sun. We put scale representations of the planets on envelopes. Then we'd send children carrying the envelopes of the innermost three or four planets to the appropriate distances (Mercury was about 40' away, Earth about 120', etc.
Part 2 was usually viewing through H-alpha filtered scopes, a Coronado Solarmax 70 and a Coronado PST.
The last part of our solar activities was making bracelets with UV-sensitive beads, explaining to the children about the dangers of sunburn and skin cancer from UV radiation.
Randy,
I haven't found a solar system projection in CdC. Best I can do is show the ecliptic during the daytime with below-the-horizon objects shown. That may place Jupiter closer to the sun than Mercury, and earth closer to the sun than Pluto. If there's a solar system projection in CdC, how do you get to it?
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I'm not the lowest of the low, but I am the slowest of the slow. '06 Scion xB. 49.6 mpg avg over 38,000 miles. 177% of '08 EPA
Best flat drive 94.5 mpg for 10.1 mi
Longest tank 1033 km (642 mi) on 10.56 gal = 60.8 mpg
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b1gred
Enginerd
Reged: 04/01/04
Posts: 16902
Loc: Castle Rock, CO 6677' MSL
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Hmmm, now you have me thinking, I don't remember where I got that projection of the solar system.
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"Dark Skies & Great Viewing"
RandyR / W0RDR
GPS 9.25 XLT/Sky Align /FeatherTouch
TV85 w/FeatherTouch
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