Hello All,
I would like to take a few minutes to lavish praise on two fellow
BBAA-ers: Matt McLaughlin and George Reynolds. I wish all of us could
have been there to witness their presentations to Ms. Bree
Laverdiere's science club at Indian Lakes Elementary School,
on Wednesday afternoon.
These two men PACKED the allotted hour with information that kept all
the kids on the edge of their seats. There is no doubt, the handouts
that BBAA provided (many were compliments of the Chesapeake
Planetarium and Dr. Hitt) are now proudly displayed on
bedroom walls though out Virginia Beach.
You guys did a wonderful job and it makes me proud to be a member of
this fine club!
Rick Bish
--- In backbayastro@..., "pathfinder027
<pathfinder027@y...>" <pathfinder027@y...> wrote:
Yesterday, 2/27/03 Rick, Matt, and I did a presentation to Indian
Lakes E. S. Science club. Here is the report of that event. To
see
pictures, go to the "Photos" section of backbayastro and look for
the "Science Club" album.
Indian Lakes Science Club Event Report
2/27/2003
On a rainy Tuesday in February, the 27th to be exact, three BBAA
members converged on Indian Lakes Elementary School in Virginia
Beach
to let the kids look at sunspots on the Sun. . . .
OK, they then went to "Plan B". Rick Bish, Matt McLaughlin, and
George Reynolds told the fifth graders of Ms. Bree Laverdiere's
Science Club a few things about astronomy. George talked about
telescopes, asteroids, comets, meteors, and some recent space
exploration missions of NASA. Matt explained the structure of the
Sun and stars, with some neat demonstrations using an air pump, a
balloon, and a volleyball. Rick explained the use of a planisphere
and passed out make-it-yourself planispheres so each student could
make his own "star finder".
Display tables were set up in the library of Indian Lakes
Elementary
School, where the Science Club meets every two weeks, showing
magazines on astronomy, books about the Moon, Mars, and star-
finding,
and pictures of the Sun, showing its structure, solar flares, and
sunspots. Each student received a wealth of literature, including
BBAA brochures, bookmarks about the Sun and Saturn, fact sheets
about
the NEAR and Deep Impact space missions, "The Space Place"
reference
cards, and a list of Internet sites to visit for more information.
Also on display were an 8-inch Dobsonian reflecting telescope and a
90-mm refractor, which the kids got to look at, if not through, to
at
least see what they look like. Every child also received a
Constellation Chart, a Moon Map, and a Moon Phase Calendar,
compliments of the Chesapeake Planetarium and the BBAA.
Ms. Laverdiere took some photos of the club session, which have
been
posted on the photo section of the Backbayastro Yahoo group.
A one-hour science club session was just not enough time to do more
than scratch the surface, but I hope we could whet the appetite of
some of those young students and fan the spark of enthusiasm for
science and astronomy knowledge.
George '3' Reynolds
JPL/NASA Solar System Ambassador
