NASA educator visits Elmhurst middle school via Skype

ELMHURST – How many solar systems are in the universe? How much do astronaut suits cost? How can you tell the mass of a planet if you haven’t visited it?

These were just a few questions that sixth-graders at Sandburg Middle School in Elmhurst asked NASA Educator Roger Storm via a live Skype call Oct. 22.

“They were high-level questions that kids were asking because kids are so inquisitive at this age,” Sandburg science teacher Christina LaPenna said.

She and fellow science teacher Ed O’Connor arranged the video conference with NASA’s Glenn Research Center in Cleveland, Ohio, after Sandburg PTA President Karen Stezowski helped them get in contact with NASA.

Sixth-graders filled the Sandburg auditorium while Storm showed the crowd an image of Galle, a crater on Mars, which he explained is often called the “smiley face crater,” because it resembles just that.

Laughter erupted as the students marveled at the familiar shape on the surface of a foreign planet.

Storm told the students about the solar system’s inner and outer planets, which they had been studying in class, during his presentation. He stopped with plenty of time for questions, and the Sandburg students had plenty of them.

“It’s really cool…to know they’re giving you the right answer, whereas if you ask your science teacher, they might not know,” sixth-grader Will Heuer said.

LaPenna agreed with his appreciation to have access to such an expert.

“Science is always changing, so what we have in the textbook, while it’s written in print, it might change the next day,” LaPenna said.

In response to the slew of questions, Storm told students that asteroids are always entering the Earth’s atmosphere, but most are the size of a basketball or smaller and burn up as they enter the atmosphere. He told them one of his favorite experiences at NASA was getting to talk with astronauts who had been to the moon.

“NASA does big science,” Storm said, explaining why he wanted to work there.

The former middle-school science teacher discussed how scientists can calculate the mass of planets by observing how the gravity of the sun affects them. They can then use mass and volume to calculate density.

“I would love to do it again. I love science,” sixth-grader Carter Brethauer said after the video conference.

The group erupted in a second excited chorus of “Oohs!” when Storm said NASA hopes to send a person to Mars in the next 30 years or so, possibly one of Sandburg’s science students.

“Being able to talk to those people who are on the cutting edge to bring us that information is amazing,” LaPenna said.

She plans to continue to use NASA educators to supplement future lessons. LaPenna said NASA is accessible and offers so many programs, from others on the solar system to the design of astronaut patches.

“Just to expand the classroom beyond four walls, to take technology like this and bring it to the entire sixth grade at one time, is huge,” LaPenna said.