Families Enjoy Night Sky at Galilean Nights
About 70 Families were treated to a host of Galilean Nights activities, all centered on celebrating the discoveries of Galileo 400 years ago this Oct 23rd. With the exception of several great power point presentations on Jupiter and other celestial bodies, all activities were hands on- just the way we like them!
Families were given the chance to win a drawing for a free Galileoscope (provided by Skeptikids of SW Florida) by completing several “stations” such as the Jupiter Presentation, several hands on challenges like guessing the scale of the solar system, coloring pages for the younger kids, and finally, making an official observation of Jupiter and the Moon through a small 20mm telescope, sketching and recording the data, just like Galileo!
Finally, everyone was treated to a nice view of Jupiter, the Moon and several Deep Sky Objects, thanks to the SW Florida Astronomical Society! Some other treats included a group presentation of the constellations and all the wonderful myths and stories that they tell, and a “walking tour of the solar system” – a 10 football field long hike around the school property, where kids and adults got to place all the planets at scale distance and size from each other!
The event was a great success! Many kids – and adults – expressed their thanks for being exposed to the wonders of the night sky! A winner was drawn for the Galileoscope and the night came to an end, but the whole event was best described by 5 year old Destiny:
“This is so much fun I could do this Every Day!”
Special thanks to the Punta Gorda Middle School Honors Student volunteers, the SWF Astronomical Society, the Bishop Planetarium, The Skeptikids, and the teacher and parent volunteers that made the evening such a success!
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S-Kid Kayla reviews Nature Center and Planetarium
Kayla B did this review and interview of her family for Science Based Parenting. We are reposting it here for your enjoyment.
- “Where Every Day is Earth Day!”
Jason B was slotted to review a recent museum or education center that we have visited. To put a little spin on things, he decided to give his 10 year old daughter Kayla the assignment instead.
We visited the Calusa Nature Center and Planetarium in Fort Myers, FL last weekend:. Kayla interviewed her brothers and her Mom, and then interviewed herself.
Without further adieu:
Hi! I’m Kayla B. Recently my family and I went to a great nature center and planetarium. We have gone to a lot of nature centers and environmental centers before, but we have never been to a planetarium, and also we saw some new wildlife that we have never seen before!
- Bob the Bobcat!
I liked the planetarium because it was cool to see all the stars, but the animals were the best. We were there in time to see the mammals get fed, and we also went through a creepy “insectarium!” We saw alligators – nothing new about that in SW Florida – but these were really BIG! Also, we went through a screened in butterfly garden and they come right up on you! We saw foxes, raccoons, wild boar, opossums, and a bobcat get fed, and we got to pet a lot of them.
In the planetarium, you can’t leave once the show starts because you will let in light and ruin the show for everyone. So make sure you go to the bathroom BEFORE you sit down for the show.
- Butterfly Aviary
My dad was exited that the voice during the show was someone named Janeway from Star Trek. We learned about the solar system, and we had to look up to see the show. It was pretty cool.
My Dad bought a membership there so we can go back again all we want this year. Here is my interview from of my little brothers and my mom:
What was your favorite part?
Kayla: My favorite part had to be when they fed the mammals. The wild boar was the best because it’s a wild animal and I got to pet it.
Joey: My favorite part was seeing the alligators, they were huge!
Anthony: My favorite part was the star show in the planetarium.
Mommy: My favorite part was feeding the mammals, I like the bobcat the best because they are all around us but very good at hiding away.
What was one new thing you learned?
Kayla: I learned that boars can chew through a small tree in a matter of minutes with their razor sharp teeth.
Joey: I learned that the pigs were not rare and they are all over Florida.
Anthony : I learned that if the wild boar brushes your leg with his tusk, he’ll cut you bad.
Mommy: I learned that in captivity, bobcats and opossums can live twice as long as in the wild.
Would you reccommend this center to a friend?
Kayla: Yes, but only the nature part with the animals.
Joey: Yes, I would tell them to see everything.
Anthony: Yes, I would tell him to go see the planetarium.
Mommy: Yes, the nature center and the planetarium were both worth seeing.
Would I go back?
Kayla: Yes, especially for the animals!
Joey: Yes, I would like to see all the animals again!
Anthony: No, I would not unless they had a star viewing outside at night.
Mommy: Yes, I’d like to see a different show at the Planetarium
- Kayla and Jason B, Longboat Key FL
(Kayla B is currently a 5th grade student, a member of her schools Intermediate Chess Club, Mini-Model UN, and Astronomy Club. She enjoys softball, football and playing with friends. Last year, Kayla was one of the few 4th grade students to place in the regional science fair. In the future, Kayla plans to get a degree in education and teach 3rd Grade.)
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Skeptikids interview on Skeptic Zone Podcast
Jason had a great time at Dragon-Con, not the least of which was some time he spent sitting down with Kylie Sturgess of Skeptic Zone fame, discussing our program, the science and skepticism tracks, and other things as well!
Also, check out the interview with Barbara Drescher of criticalteaching.org and check out the website. There’s some good stuff over there!
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Tree Top Science
Kids studying the flora and fauna that lives in the treetops
There are only a couple dozen canopy bridges in the world, and this is one of them. This bridge allows scientists to perform long term studies of plant, animal and insect life that, without the bridge, would be almost impossible.
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Going to Dragon-Con! And Skeptrack! (kinda)
So the best I could do was clearing my schedule for Thursday and Friday. Maybe I will be able to spend a little time Saturday, but we’ll have to see. It’s amazing how Your calendar seems to fill up right at the time that You want to do something, isn’t it?
Anyway, I am very happy to be going to Atlanta, even for a couple of days. I’m especially glad to be attending A Full Moon for Cancer Thursday night! It is a Star Party in memory of Jeff Medkeff and benefit for the American Cancer Society. The Star Party will be lead by Doctors Phil Plait and Pamela Gay! I expect it to be a lot of fun.
Friday, I plan on attending several panels at Skeptrack, but I think I am most interested in the presentation on skeptical parenting! Go figure, eh? If time permits, I hope to sit down with Kylie Sturgess and the rest of the Skeptic Zone folks and maybe do a short interview with them about Us and what we are planning here in the US over the next couple of years.
In fact, my one regret will be missing out on their Mystery Investigators Children’s Show presentation. They have a developed kids outreach program and I would like to learn what I can from them and try to borrow some of their methods. Alas, I can’t stay all weekend long and I will miss it.
Still glad to go and spread the Skeptikids message: Science is a Verb!
- Jason
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Back on Wordpress Again!
So no surprise here, we are moving back to Wordpress.
It’s just a better platform for our purposes. We started out here, then we moved into something else, and now, in our effort to localize our Skeptikids program, we are moving to this central location, with links to the individual chapters as they come on line!
Bear with us, we are hands on, kid-centric people, but we are NOT web 2.0 savvy. In fact, I don’t think the word “savvy” has ever been used to describe me. Anywhoo, we are working on getting the main site back up, but most importantly, we have a structure in place to allow individual chapters to maintain their own local sites on Skeptikids.org, and to give them their own Skeptikids.org email, twitter etc.
2009 is still the Year of Science folks! We plan to make an impact before its over!
- Jason
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