Two examples of sharing the sky came to my notice this last week. They have some similarity and remind me of lessons I want to remember about helping others.
The first example was a friend who is relatively new to finding sky objects. He bought a telescope this week and was having fun under a clear sky with a first light celebration. I was trying to figure out (again) where the guide stars are in the western sky for the beginning of the Messier Marathon. So I was only listening to the excitement in the background.
My friend was getting help from enthusiastic knowledgeable friends. But I heard him say something about how he wanted to start from the beginning and find the object himself. And he did. object after object.
Another friend visited his grandchildren in another state. They had received a telescope gift from grandfather and had (I'm sure) all the problems of a new astronomer. It was an important moment. Either they were going to figure out how to see something or they were going to pack the telescope in the back of the closet. I've seen it many times before. It happened to me twice in my life.
This wise grandfather had the kids do most of the work of selecting some objects to look for in the clear night sky. They developed a short list of beautiful objects appropriate to the scope and the sky. M42, a double star, and a star cluster would do nicely for such a list. Practicing putting the scope together in the warm living room and in the light would make that chore less frustrating outside in the dark and the cold.
Then grand-dad watched as the kids toted the scope outdoors and set it up themselves. They were able to find the objects with a planisphere or atlas in the night sky, and then aim the scope at the objects they wanted to look at. As the earth rotated, they moved the scope themselves to follow it.
This business self directed exploration is such an important goal! In much of my public star party sharing I have given folks the opportunity to be wowed by sky objects. But only infrequently have I had the opportunity to go the next step and help someone through the necessary steps of becoming an independent sky observer.
These examples are fresh in my mind. I really need to do something about them while they still weigh on my consciousness.
Dark Skies! And may we all learn something new this month...
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Rick,
ReplyDeleteGood post, and very true. Hands on is the best teacher. Being primarily self-taught on most subjects, I can relate to this in a very big way.
BTW - thanks for visiting my blog and posting a comment. I look forward to your sunrise reports everyday on facebook, too. It's a great fill-in for the many days my schedule keeps me away from an open horizon. I check in here regularly, too. Keep up the good work!
Rick what are you going to do?
ReplyDeleteRecently at Sarah King Elem. School an 8th grade girl responded my my question on "Do you know where Orion is?" very confidently "Yes, I'm going to do this for a living!" Eventually when the crowds cleared out she was talking to Mr. Baker and she was very knowledgeable so I invited her over to my scope and explained how to use move the dobsonian then I told her how the telrad helps then I quickly moved the telescope point down at the wall of the school and I told her to move the telescope to Mars. She said "me??" I told her "yes, you!" she was able to do it and then she moved it to various stars, the Orion Nebula and the moon without any help from me. I walked away for about 10 minutes and she had a ball. We need to do this more. astronomy is a Science; Science is a process not a list of facts; why do we reduce astronomy to a 40 second speech of facts we tell people as we look through our telescope??
If we provide more hands on experiences then we wouldn't have to worry about the future of amateur astronomy. As a teacher I even have to step back so my students learn!