6 replies to this topic

[Nankins]

I am putting together a 4-H Astronomy Spark club that will meet Saturdays starting March 30th and ending April 20th, for 2 hours from 1:30 to 3:30 EST. I am looking for two more guest speakers if possible (already have a fellow club member giving his eclipse talk). If possible it would be great if I could get someone who is/was a professional astronomer and someone who does something related to space exploration. This is going to be for Junior High/High School kids, so space exploration or some who does professional astronomy will be more likely to resonate with them. I do have to make sure all guest speakers get approved by 4-H, so there is a form or two to fill out that our 4-H educator would have to email anyone who is a guest speaker. This is an in-person club, but if need be I can arrange for guest speakers to be remote, I would just need to have reliable back-up Internet because the school internet at the Observatory is terrible even though it's in town. Any and all suggestions are appreciated! I'll PM anyone I think might be interesting for the kids to listen to. I've already got the eclipse stuff covered, and I have slide shows and activities of my own for the kids. After the eclipse in April we will cover the rest of the solar system (and a little bit of space exploration), then stars and nebulae, and finally galaxies, etc. Given the age group I do intent to have the kid do a little easy math, like Kepler's Lawd of Planetary Motion.

Sent from my V340U using Tapatalk

[PFitzhorn]

Purdue University, a stone's throw from where you are, has an outstanding program for physics and astronomy outreach. Their philosophy (and I shamelessly plagairize here) is:

 

The philosophy of Outreach in Physics and Astronomy at Purdue is to:

    - Create opportunities for Indiana K-12 students to learn about, and develop enthusiasm for, science.
    - Provide high quality professional development for Indiana K-12 teachers.
    -  Collaborate with faculty to leverage resources and expertise for K-12 classrooms and science education.

 

Their website is here.

[Nankins]

Purdue University, a stone's throw from where you are, has an outstanding program for physics and astronomy outreach. Their philosophy (and I shamelessly plagairize here) is:

The philosophy of Outreach in Physics and Astronomy at Purdue is to:
- Create opportunities for Indiana K-12 students to learn about, and develop enthusiasm for, science.
- Provide high quality professional development for Indiana K-12 teachers.
- Collaborate with faculty to leverage resources and expertise for K-12 classrooms and science education.

Their website is here.

I know. My dad helped Danny Milisajevic with building and now maintaining a small observatory at one of the FNR properties. My Dad's a property manager for Purdue FNR. A number of people in our club work for Purdue or have worked for Purdue. One works for NASA through Purdue. Another is a retired astronomy and physics professor. And of course Danny is an honorable member. I know Danny would be a excellent choice for guest speaker just not sure about asking him since I know he is very busy. He's the project leader on the JWST Cassiopeia A* mission. And he's literally a red squirrel. Which is why he's one of my choices just as said earlier, not sure how busy he would be.



Sent from my V340U using Tapatalk

[Nankins]

I am still looking for guest speakers.  I have someone talking about solar eclipses from our club, but still looking for someone to talk space exploration/space travel.  I am capping all talks at half an hour each, for multiple reasons, including the fact that as spark club leader I've got multiple things I want to cover/have the kids do in the space of 2 hours.  We meet from 1:30 to 3:30.  I am going to reach out to a Purdue associate professor, and also someone in my club who has a radio astronomy set-up, but I really feel that an astronaut or someone who has direct connections to space travel and exploration would really resonate with these Jr High/High School kids the most (I know I have always found space exploration to be one of the main reasons people get interested in astronomy).  Any and all suggestions are welcome, and if anyone on this forum wants to give a talk, pm me.  I should warn that although we will have internet, it is not strong at the observatory and we usually have plenty of issues. But I will make sure to have a back-up internet source in case it is needed. 

[kfiscus]

PM sent.

[Nankins]

Topic can be locked.  I've got all I need for guest speakers.

[mdowns]

Per the OP's request locking the thread.