Forty-five students were up for the challenge- the 2015 Space Challenge Camp that is. As an opportunity from College for Kids, 10-14 year old students spent March 23-26 in training to become rocket scientists who studies life forms, took on group space missions, and went on the first extra-solar field trip with the Planetarium’s new system.
The students, along with Planetarium Coordinator, James Albury chose a “super Earth” field trip to after learning about it on an episode of “Extreme Planets.” Before lifting off from Earth, these young rocket scientists observed the similarity of constellations from Earth, the Moon and Mars. After all that and some experimenting with Mercury and Venus, the kids watched the “sun” rise on 55 Cancri e.
That was a lot of work in a couple of days, especially before a visit to the moons of Jupiter and Saturn on Wednesday. The few days were action-packed and fun, but most importantly the kids were able to have an educational experience that would not be possible in a traditional classroom alone, thanks to the valuable resources at the Kika Silva Pla Planetarium.
