Shooting Stars at Stanton School
On the Monday 9th June 14, I went to visit Stanton School for three presentations about rocks for Year 5 and 6 students. Rocks you say? Yes, but rocks from space! During the talks I presented the current state of our Solar System and where meteorites come from and how they entered our atmosphere. I also discussed the general effects of meteorite impacts, craters and the main collection places and campaigns. Finally, I gave a very short and general overview of what meteorites can teach us about the various Solar System planetary bodies and the early times of the Solar System. After the talk, I presented the meteorite samples in more detail. It is always a great time when the children realise that they are holding a piece of Mars or of the Moon, a planet and a satellite they can easily visualise, and these meteorites had a great success. During the presentation of the meteorites, the students were encouraged to ask any questions they might have and some of them were quite surprising. The teachers, the students, and I were delighted at the end of the afternoon.
Such visits remind us that sharing science with people, and especially children, is a great source of motivation in our work and it reminds us that we are not only working on meteorites just for us, but for everyone and that many people are still interested in space science.
Jean-David Bodénan
Spectacular bolide imaged during Okie-Tex stargazing event 2008
(http://www.okie-tex.com/2008_party.php) (image: Howard Edin)
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