Fun and Funding

This week was another new taster session. We took our wares to Hapton Primary School and once again our taster session about star formation, abiogenesis and proplyds went down a storm. These kids were great. They were full of questions and once again I found myself surprised by the intelligence they displayed in their questioning. I was not surprised to find smart kids, but there are questions and then there are questions. The most rewarding thing is when we see a student starting to use inductive reasoning, often showing the ability to infer intelligent answers from various propositions we present to them. I was so impressed by a couple of students who were able to employ induction and a sort of young strain of syllogistic logic to ask intelligent questions. This was pleasing not only because of the questioning, but also because the questions suggested certain premises had already been dismissed prior to formulating the question. Now that WAS exciting. When a child has been educated to a standard sufficient to allow them to self-educate intelligently then that child is equipped well for the academic challenge. I am in no doubt that there were at least a couple of future scientists in this school.

The session went down, as I say, very well and it is always great when the teachers and learning support staff are as engaged in the lesson as the students. This is often the case with astronomy as it is rare and also almost transcendent and numinous in parts. The best sign of a good lesson is when we are told to shut up! The students would have questioned all afternoon but inevitably the wider curriculum came rushing in. How thrilling it is to have the students chatter our ears off from beginning to end.

Other good news is that the Awards4All funding application we previously had rejected looks as though it will be approved upon reapplication. I am not the expert on this sort of thing, that is Erica's forte, however, it seems that a minor detail was incorrectly stated or interpreted and clearing it up will allow us to go ahead. That will be great result if that comes in, allowing us to buy significant resources for educating.

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Tired Yet Pleased

Today was our third taster session and it was delivered on the last day before half term to Lowerhouse Primary School in Burnley. I have to confess that these sessions take a lot of energy and wear me out, but it is a good feeling, a gentle fatigue that reminds me how cool this job is, despite the mild terror of self-employment during the worst recession in living memory. After half term the lessons and sessions begin proper. I estimate that Erica and I were able to reach around 100 students today. I live for these moments, when I see students totally engaged and energised by science, assimilating the complexities of things like black hole physics, abiogenesis, astrobiology and solar physics. It is difficult to do anything other than beam with joy at these children. They are smart, they are sharp and they are intelligent, full of potential. I have no doubt that some of them might go all the way and get a good university education. It is so exciting to be able to influence them in that way, and they deserve it.

The taster sessions are delivered in two parts, with the first dealing with abiogenesis and the chemistry of life and the second nebular accretion and star formation. I usually wind these sessions up with Pale Blue Dot and today I was utterly blown away when one of the kids knew who Carl Sagan was. That made me jump inside just a little bit. Pale Blue Dot is a great way to finish a class with something inspirational, and, after so much hardcore science, something that is also a rest for the mind and which appeals to the human sense of, and appreciation for the transcendent and the numinous. I love Pale Blue Dot for many reasons, but one of them as that it is a reminder to me that however much I love science, empiricism and suchlike, human beings are ultimately creatures of emotion, and thus it serves to force me to engage with education using a holistic methodology. Today I was utterly thrilled that, when the Powerpoint slide with Sagan's photograph appeared on screen, one student knew him, and even better, it was a girl. This science seems to naturally appeal to boys so I always try to get the girls equally involved and engaged. That doesn't usually take a massive amount of persuasion but I do it nonetheless because one thing Beauty in the Universe definitely will not be is a gendered organisation. As it turns out her father grew up aware of the same 1980's sense of wonder and fascination at space exploration that I did so he bought her the box set of Carl Sagan's Cosmos. Good for him, and especially for her. This town needs more parents like that.

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