Astronomy for Kids
In the wake of federal No Child Left Behind legislation, it is incumbent upon today’s educators to be well trained and meet certain educational standards. The increased reliance of testing as part of these changes to the educational landscape has placed a greater demand on schools to provide results by hitting minimum scores and percentages. However, these figures don’t really mean much to the individual student and, worse yet, may be an even stronger influence on some kids to drop out of school. Already, school is a hard sell to children, as memorization drills and teaching to the test cause many children to regard school, learning and fun as separate concepts. In terms of a specific subject, astronomy, taught right, is a tremendously interesting and informative field with tons to explore. Of course, even the most dry information on astronomy and things like stellar evolution can be intriguing to someone who loves astronomy. For kids, there need to be some bells and whistles, so to speak, for a scientific concept to catch and hold their attention. In other words, the presentation should be exciting without sacrificing information. The following are suggestions for enlivening astronomy for kids:
1. Use fun projects to illustrate concepts – The long-term comprehension and recall of students of a particular lesson is greatly aided by a sense of emotional attachment and/or visual associations with that lesson. When approaching astronomy for younger audiences, you cannot hope to simply read from a book and expect the children who listen to eat it up. Instead, make the lesson fun and memorable by pairing any readings or lectures on the material with an artistic project to be completed at home. Say the topic is the order of the planets. Amidst getting across this information on an important concept in astronomy for kids, you can encourage them to make their own representations of the solar system. To create an even greater atmosphere of fun, you can suggest that the children use some sort of food product or candy to represent each of the planets. For teachers, this can be a good way of connecting with kids who may not be avid fans of science but are creatively inclined.
2. Show videos from TV science personalities – There are a seemingly endless number of videos out there by people who strive to make learning more exciting for children. While it may be hard to find a teacher or program that deals with astronomy alone, stars of science-oriented television programs like Bill Nye are pretty well-rounded when it comes to knowledge across the sciences. Thus, when it comes to astronomy for kids, while individual episodes of shows may have to be isolated, there is bound to be a kids’ program with a special on file or published video/DVD series.
3. Take a trip to a science museum – The most fun that can usually be had with astronomy for kids is hands-on applications of the subject matter. A science museum such as the Liberty Science Center in New York is a rich source of information on astronomy and other sciences, and features terrific exhibits that will make abstract concepts come alive. For instance, a scale might weigh the child user and convert their weight on Earth to their weight on the moon based on disparities of gravity. If possible, see if this museum will offer an IMAX movie or other large-scale movie presentation on a subject related to astronomy and space exploration.