If you had half an hour to teach one space principle to kids, what would it be?

[dodrian]

If you had one shot, half an hour, to teach a group of primary school children something about space, what would it be and why?

You could pick anything space related -- be it something about astronomy or nature, physics, technology, or human exploration. What do you think would pique an interest in space in the mind of an eight year old?

[Sillychris]

Gravity and that everything has it. That usually blows minds.

[palioxis1248]

Teach them about the ISS and how they can look for it.

[WestAir]

One day, everything we've ever built or loved: including our cities, the Earth, and even humanity itself, with be destroyed by the growing Sun.

[Brethern]

That space is not an ocean.

[Z-Man]

How toilets work in space.

(Or, of course, if it's not on the curriculum already in your region, how moon phases or eclipses or seasons work.)

[vger]

One day, everything we've ever built or loved: including our cities, the Earth, and even humanity itself, with be destroyed by the growing Sun.

Just be sure to tell them how long that will actually take, so their imaginations don't run away with them.

Nothing will demotivate a classroom full of elementary school kids faster than telling them that the world will end before graduation.

- -

My half hour class? It would be combined with statistical information about the current state of our planet, its resources, population, etc. Without spreading space, humanity in all likelihood has no future (or at least one that isn't utterly nightmarish), and our interest in it has been going WAY in the wrong direction.

Edited March 16, 2014 by vger

[NASAFanboy]

I would tell them that NASA is in an bad state, then list a bunch of reasons why we should increase the NASA budget.

Sit back, relax, and watch.

[ZedNova]

Show them KSP. And teach them why so many space movies are wrong.

[LexiSilva]

Show them KSP. And teach them why so many space movies are wrong.

I, too, think that a quick KSP session would teach kids that it is not: "Straight up and you're in orbit!", and that rocket science isn't as hard as is perceived.

[Dispatcher]

Space is big, really really big.

[dodrian]

Thanks for the responses, lots of great suggestions :-)

I would love to do KSP with eight year olds .

I personally would probably do something related to the ISS or the Mars Rovers. Think about it: We have a group of people living in space! And we have cars on another planet!

[CaptainKipard]

We are made of stardust!

[DonLorenzo]

Space is big; so, so big. The earth is just a tiny place in it. A nice, wonderful place, but probably not very special. With lots of effort and research and learning we might one day learn how to visit all these other places. When lots and lots of people worked together very very hard we even went to the moon one day, that was way cool, we really should do that again sometime. The universe and reality is a marvellous and weird place, and you're amongst the first (okay, second, maybe third) generation of people alive EVER that have the knowledge and resources available at your fingertips to understand it really rather well. Even though we're only small, that's not.

[Skyler4856]

An explanation of gravity using the bed sheet system...

[Skyler4856]

We are made of stardust!

Explaining fusion to children would be a pain.

[cantab]

The thousand yard walk,

http://www.noao.edu/education/peppercorn/pcmain.html

Really illustrates the scale of the solar system, and it's something direct and easy to understand.

[Camacha]

The thousand yard walk

Without wanting to start the whole discussion again, I would suggest making that a 1000 meter walk (or kilometer ). I actually think that is a wonderful idea, as everything starts and ends with understanding the scale of things. Or at least knowing.

Explaining gravity is also neat, as it is a really weak force (I can lift something against the whole Earth gravity with ease) yet holds everything we hold dear together.

[TechnicalK3rbal]

That being in an orbit is different from just being in space. Of course, I didn't really understand the difference until kerbal space program though either.

[vger]

Without wanting to start the whole discussion again, I would suggest making that a 1000 meter walk (or kilometer ). I actually think that is a wonderful idea, as everything starts and ends with understanding the scale of things. Or at least knowing.

Explaining gravity is also neat, as it is a really weak force (I can lift something against the whole Earth gravity with ease) yet holds everything we hold dear together.

This is pretty cool. Actually what I would love to do, is have this setup like a vast sculpture near a museum. A properly-scaled model of the solar system that you can walk around in.

[DonLorenzo]

Without wanting to start the whole discussion again, I would suggest making that a 1000 meter walk (or kilometer ). I actually think that is a wonderful idea, as everything starts and ends with understanding the scale of things. Or at least knowing.

Explaining gravity is also neat, as it is a really weak force (I can lift something against the whole Earth gravity with ease) yet holds everything we hold dear together.

Wow, that last sentence made lifting a coffee cup just now a truly surreal experience. I think I'd best go to bed ><

[Voidryder]

My first vote is for the whole 1000 yard or meter demonstration. That would have been so cool to do as a kid. Heck, it would be cool to do now.

My second would be just about anything dealing with gravity which reminds me of when I used gravity to save me some money.

I was sitting with a highly respected and intelligent lawyer (don't ask). I offered him a deal, if I could offer proof positive that I could defy gravity using everyday objects, he would take my case for free. (I said don't ask.) He agreed. So I took a paperclip from his desk, pulled out a small kitchen magnet (really don't ask what it was doing in my pocket at the time) and held it over the paperclip. The clip jumped off the desk and stuck to the magnet. He said that was magnetism and not gravity. (Told ya he was smart.) I agreed, but then asked what was holding the paperclip to his desk. He looked at me for a good 5 minutes in silence then took my case for free. (No, you can't ask.)

[vger]

Voidryder, your story deserves to go into some classic future collection of texts, something comparable to Aesop's Fables.

[CaptainKipard]

Explaining fusion to children would be a pain.

That's not really the point. It's just to trigger their curiosity when you tell them that everything on this planet including themselves was once inside of a star, and possibly came together from multiple stars.

[Nibb31]

I'd explain the basics of orbital mechanics, Newton's cannon-on-a-mountain diagram, and how reaching orbit is about flying so fast that you are falling beyond the horizon: