Today's (May 14) Senior Science class

       Another full Senior Scientist class this morning...

I began by showing my senior scientist class a pocket museum containing a piece of leg bone I found over the weekend, shaped into a tool, then telling them about the two ants I saw working together to drag a dead bluebottle home for dinner..................and, having got their interest, I showed  some of Jeannine's books, created when she was a teacher.

Before I handed them out, I told the 2002 story in the New York Times of Pluto's demise as a planet, and Jeannine's subsequent class communication with Venetia Phair, who, in 1930, when a young girl, named the newly discovered planet, Pluto.

They were mesmorized, and so taken by the quality of the children's illustrations in the hand-made books...................especially the one they sent to Venetia in England - which began a period of correspondence between Venetia and Jeannine's children.

Twnrty minutes later, when I'd answered most of the questions and the chatter eased a bit, I handed each senior scientist a small treasure jar containing earth I collected some time ago when out on a walk..................a pair of tweezers, an empty tin and a magnifying glass.

Each jar was loaded with small fossils and crystals.............the senior scientists teased out their finds and set them aside from the earth. Then, when the time was right,  I handed each of them a small magnet........and showed them how to gently move it close to the soil.............they were thrilled when the magnet attracted the magnetite crystals buried in the earth, all deposits from overhead meteor showers........................

My senior scientists were absolutely enthralled!!

***** This is an activity I've used loads of times in classrooms - with kids, teachers - at workshops for children and their parents. It always engages my group. 

Here's the handout I use when working with teachers...............

Collecting moondust!!

A couple of years ago, when listening to Morning Edition on NPR, my attention was caught when an interview focused on the previous night’s meteor shower over Colorado.

Apparently, after such a shower, one can find magnetic meteorite dust by sweeping the ground with a magnet.

That gave me an idea…………..

A meteor shower, incidentally, is the result of an interaction between Earth and streams of debris from a comet. Each time a comet swings by the sun in its orbit, some of its ice vaporizes and a certain amount of meteoroids (iron based, so magnetic) are shed. The meteoroids  spread out along the entire orbit of the comet to form a meteoroid stream also known as a dust trail, and eventually fall to the earth below, waiting to be collected by young scientists.

So, soil collected on a walk might contain some iron particles which I call ‘moondust’ and can be discovered by using a magnet.

  

What you need:  

• A soil sample, ideally from the banks of a nearby stream
• A magnet
• A small container (I get mine from fast food shops !!) to hold the magnet
• A small Altoids, or similar, tin to make a pocket museum
• A magnifying glass

What you do:

Spread out the soil on a small tray. Then, slowly move the magnet in the container over the soil.
If there’s any meteoroids in the earth, they will stick to the bottom of the container.

Hold the container over the empty tin and remove the magnet.

The moon dust will fall inside the bottom of the tin.

******* Don’t forget to label the tin and date it - and, hey, you have a Pocket Museum filled with MOONDUST!!