I really LOVE working at the Planetarium. The groups of kids that come in every day are always so excited and engaged in the shows that we provide. One little girl was so happy afterward, she thanked me by running up and giving me a hug. The only thing I enjoy more than seeing their enthusiasm is listening to them shout out answers when we do the "Planets in the House" show. This show is not prerecorded like most of the ones we have so one of the assistants has to narrate it. Today in particular, we had a super smart bunch of first graders who surprised me with how much previous knowledge they had. For example:
Jim the assistant: "Jupiter is the largest planet in our solar system, in fact it is so large, does anyone know how many Earth's we could fit inside Jupiter?" ....(The answer is 1000)
1st grade girl: "Well ....I know that it could probably fit all of the planets in our solar system inside of it...so maybe....1000 Earths?!"
Needless to say, both Jim and I were speechless and way impressed she got the answer, but also by her critical thinking skills!
Also, my mentor showed me an outline of topics that the Planetarium needs to develop shows for this year. The purpose of these shows are to act as a component to FCAT preparation, and will be based off of different standards for each grade level (K-12). I may abandon my original idea for a project, to work on some of these instead.
Wow! Dina, that 1st grade girl must really enjoy people like you giving her thought-provoking questions like that. I have never met an elementary student who doesn't love science, but there are plenty of high-schoolers who claim it "isn't their thing." So, my hypothesis is that SOMETHING big changes in middle school. I remember you saying in class that you had the possible chance to create a show best suited for middle-schoolers. I think that's such a great idea that you had, and I really hope that you take it and run with it. Engaging middle-school students- in the midst of all of their self-perceived 'akwardness'- to think, "hey, science IS pretty awesome" is key to creating a stronger, more scientifically literate future for America (and the world). I am excited to see what you come up with!
ReplyDeleteI'm with Brett! So many student's I've interacted with have gone into high school with the mentality that science is beyond them. I've noticed with math and science especially students usually have an "all or nothing" attitude- as in they either love them or hate them and don't believe they could ever succeed at the subjects. And it sounds like you hit on something when you said how rewarding it is to see their enthusiasm- I think your biggest challenge is going to get middle schoolers excited enough to forget their self-consciousness and just get excited and enthusiastic about science.
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