[meteorite-list] Meteorite Education (or the lack of)

From: STUARTATK_at_aol.com <STUARTATK_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Thu Apr 22 10:18:26 2004
Message-ID: <183.16ac7eac.2b79489d_at_aol.com>

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Hi all,

Just thought I'd share a funny / rather disturbing meteorite-related
experience I had on Friday afternoon.

I went to another school here in the north of England, to give an astronomy
presentation to a hall full of 90 kids aged 5 - 9... rather a heavy heart
after recent events obviously, but there's still work to do, so I arrived at
the school and went to the staff room to grab a cuppa before going "on
stage". There were a few teaching students there, right from college, maybe
19, 20 yrs old? We got talking and one of them came across as a bit of a
"science type" so I thought I'd let her have sneak preview of the meteorites
I'd brought along to show the kids...

Canyon Diablo first, of course... handed it to her, and she did the usual
hefted-it-in-her-hand thing, feeling the weight, but seemed rather
unimpressed. Not a problem, or an unusual reaction (among adults at any
rate!) cos if I'm honest it *does* look like an ancient chewed toffee after
all, so I went to Plan B and retrieved my lump of "pseudo-lunar" anorthosite,
which has a less-than-cryptic "A11-type rock" label on the bag... she looked
puzzled, turned it over a few times in her hand, then shot me that "Um...
yes?" look... "Read the label," I suggested, "what could it be?" Another
blank look. "Well," I continued, "think space... what might that label mean?"
More staring, yet another blank look. Deep sigh from me. "Okay... think space
still... what could 'A11' stand for?" Nope. "A space mission..." I prodded.
Nothing. "A famous space mission... probably the most famous of all..."
Zilch. Nada. Lights were on but no-one was home. "Okay... big clue... if I
told you that that's what Moon rock would be like if you were to go there and
grab a piece... what do you think the A in 'A11' stands for?"

"Astronaut?" she replied hopefully.

Dear lord. This girl was going to be responsible for teaching kids?

"No... the name of the mission itself... think Moon... missions *to* the
Moon..."

"Atlantis?"

I wondered if there was maybe a friend she could phone... she needed a really
big clue obviously, to lead her to the answer.

"Okay... the first man to land on the Moon was on this mission... and his
name was...?"

I expected a "Well, duh!" look in reply followed by a sneery "Neil Armstrong,
of course!"

But no, the blank look was all that I got. Again.

"Neil Armstrong! The Moon! Apollo 11!" I said, exasperated.

"Oh, right..." she said... then handed me the anorthosite back and went back
to her prawn salad lunchbowl.

I left the staffroom even more dejected than I had been when I went in... and
my state of mind wasn't improved when, with just 5 mins to go, the bulb in my
projector blew up... but the presentation itself went really well, and as I
went around each class afterwards the kids loved holding (and sniffing! They
always sniff it! Does anyone else come across that when they do school show
and tells?) the Canyon Diablo and looking at my phial of Zagami dust... many
of the kids thought the Canyon D was "Cool!" and "very heavy!" and one
insisted he had an even bigger piece in his garden. I guess he may at that.

Finally, a week after the tragic loss of the shuttle, I know everyone's
thoughts are still very much with the families of the lost astronauts, and
all the good men and women who work so hard at NASA. I've avoided posting my
thoughts on the tragedy because anything I said wou;d have seemed
irrelevent...I was literally lost for words anyway, but now some time has
passed, if anyone wants to read the thoughts of a sad Brit, just to get a UK
perspective on things, then I have an article up on www.newmars.com ("After
Columbia").

All the best from a wet and windy northern UK,

Stu

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<HTML><FONT FACE=3Darial,helvetica><FONT SIZE=3D2>Hi all,
<BR>
<BR>Just thought I'd share a funny / rather disturbing meteorite-related exp=
erience I had on Friday afternoon.=20
<BR>
<BR>I went to another school here in the north of England, to give an astron=
omy presentation to a hall full of 90 kids aged 5 - 9... rather a heavy hear=
t after recent events obviously, but there's still work to do, so I arrived=20=
at the school and went to the staff room to grab a cuppa before going "on st=
age". There were a few teaching students there, right from college, maybe 19=
, 20 yrs old? We got talking and one of them came across as a bit of a "scie=
nce type" so I thought I'd let her have sneak preview of the meteorites I'd=20=
brought along to show the kids...=20
<BR>
<BR>Canyon Diablo first, of course... handed it to her, and she did the usua=
l hefted-it-in-her-hand thing, feeling the weight, but seemed rather unimpre=
ssed. Not a problem, or an unusual reaction (among adults at any rate!) cos=20=
if I'm honest it *does* look like an ancient chewed toffee after all, so I w=
ent to Plan B and retrieved my lump of "pseudo-lunar" anorthosite, which has=
 a less-than-cryptic "A11-type rock" label on the bag... she looked puzzled,=
 turned it over a few times in her hand, then shot me that "Um... yes?" look=
... "Read the label," I suggested, "what could it be?" Another blank look. "=
Well," I continued, "think space... what might that label mean?" More starin=
g, yet another blank look. Deep sigh from me. "Okay... think space still...=20=
what could 'A11' stand for?" Nope. "A space mission..." I prodded. Nothing.=20=
"A famous space mission... probably the most famous of all..." Zilch. Nada.=20=
Lights were on but no-one was home. "Okay... big clue... if I told you that=20=
that's what Moon rock would be like if you were to go there and grab a piece=
... what do you think the A in 'A11' stands for?"
<BR>
<BR>"Astronaut?" she replied hopefully.
<BR>
<BR>Dear lord. This girl was going to be responsible for teaching kids?
<BR>
<BR>"No... the name of the mission itself... think Moon... missions *to* the=
 Moon..."
<BR>
<BR>"Atlantis?"=20
<BR>
<BR>I wondered if there was maybe a friend she could phone... she needed a r=
eally big clue obviously, to lead her to the answer.
<BR>
<BR>"Okay... the first man to land on the Moon was on this mission... and hi=
s name was...?"=20
<BR>
<BR>I expected a "Well, duh!" look in reply followed by a sneery "Neil Armst=
rong, of course!"
<BR>
<BR>But no, the blank look was all that I got. &nbsp;Again.=20
<BR>
<BR>"Neil Armstrong! The Moon! Apollo 11!" I said, exasperated.=20
<BR>
<BR>"Oh, right..." she said... then handed me the anorthosite back and went=20=
back to her prawn salad lunchbowl.
<BR>
<BR>I left the staffroom even more dejected than I had been when I went in..=
. and my state of mind wasn't improved when, with just 5 mins to go, the bul=
b in my projector blew up... but the presentation itself went really well, a=
nd as I went around each class afterwards the kids loved holding (and sniffi=
ng! They always sniff it! Does anyone else come across that when they do sch=
ool show and tells?) the Canyon Diablo and looking at my phial of Zagami dus=
t... many of the kids thought the Canyon D was "Cool!" and "very heavy!" and=
 one insisted he had an even bigger piece in his garden. I guess he may at t=
hat.
<BR>
<BR>Finally, a week after the tragic loss of the shuttle, I know everyone's=20=
thoughts are still very much with the families of the lost astronauts, and a=
ll the good men and women who work so hard at NASA. I've avoided posting my=20=
thoughts on the tragedy because anything I said wou;d have seemed irrelevent=
...I was literally lost for words anyway, but now some time has passed, if a=
nyone wants to read the thoughts of a sad Brit, just to get a UK perspective=
 on things, then I have an article up on www.newmars.com ("After Columbia").=
=20
<BR>
<BR>All the best from a wet and windy northern UK,
<BR>
<BR>Stu</FONT></HTML>

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Received on Mon 10 Feb 2003 01:25:33 PM PST