Bocky Posted March 11, 2014 Share Posted March 11, 2014 My dd 6th grade has expressed an interest in a science topic for the first time, and I need help to facilitate her pursuing it. Dd usually has a get-it-done approach to school work. She is a little interested in reading fantasy fiction and in writing, and loves to dance to the radio. Math is generally suffered through, and science is "boring - let's not do the experiment but just get it over." This past week she has suddenly developed her first ever interest in a science topic. She is interested in the moons Titan and Europa, and the possibility of them being suitable for life developing. So how do I help her pursue this topic? I have: - borrowed the two books from our local library branch that mentioned Jupiter, Saturn and their moons, both books not really middle school level - looked them up on wikipedia with her What should I be doing? Just getting out of the way isn't enough help; I need to teach her to pursue her interest, but am not sure where to start. All suggestions gratefully received! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Catherine Posted March 11, 2014 Share Posted March 11, 2014 http://earthguide.ucsd.edu/virtualmuseum/litu/10_3.shtml http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/scitech/display.cfm?ST_ID=286 http://io9.com/5984938/jupiters-moon-europa-may-be-the-best-place-to-search-for-life The first and second links will be pretty advanced for most 6th graders so it might be helpful for you to read with her and look things up that she doesn't understand as you are going along. The last one is a blog post that is more readable. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jayne J Posted March 11, 2014 Share Posted March 11, 2014 If you have a university or planetarium nearby you might have her write or call to see if someone there might speak with her about the moons, or guide her to other resources. You may even get some interesting responses from NASA. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bocky Posted March 12, 2014 Author Share Posted March 12, 2014 Thank you, Catherine. Those links look very interesting, especially the i09 blog. We will go through them together. That is a great idea, urpedonmommy. We have just moved to a new town, so we've never been to the planetarium or the college here. I'll see what we can find out about making some contacts there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anacharsis Posted March 12, 2014 Share Posted March 12, 2014 If she likes fantasy, she might enjoy Robert Heinlein's Farmer in the Sky, a young adult book about settlers terraforming and homesteading Ganymede, another one of Jupiter's moons. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RootAnn Posted March 12, 2014 Share Posted March 12, 2014 When you & she looked up info on Wikipedia, did you check down to the articles that were linked as footnotes? Just another avenue to explore: Exploration of Jupiter - Potential Colonization Colonization of Europa Space colonizing (On Anacharsis's note ... you can check out Europa in fiction - but do be careful of Heinlein as some of his books aren't appropriate for younger kids - pre-reading is necessary!) (I focused more on Europa because we just covered Jupiter in our science this week so I'd already done some fishing around in the area.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WinsomeCreek Posted March 13, 2014 Share Posted March 13, 2014 I really liked a movie on Netflix called Europa Report. It isn't graphically violent, but can get scary. Maybe preview depending in your 6th grader. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JanetC Posted March 13, 2014 Share Posted March 13, 2014 Download JMARS here: jmars.asu.edu Create an account, it's free and no one will spam you. Start JMARS. It defaults to Mars. Under "Body", select whichever moon you want to start with. I suggest Europa, as the cloud layer means there are a lot of holes in the Titan dataset. Presto! NASA imaging data at your fingertips! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bocky Posted March 14, 2014 Author Share Posted March 14, 2014 If she likes fantasy, she might enjoy Robert Heinlein's Farmer in the Sky, a young adult book about settlers terraforming and homesteading Ganymede, another one of Jupiter's moons. Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bocky Posted March 14, 2014 Author Share Posted March 14, 2014 When you & she looked up info on Wikipedia, did you check down to the articles that were linked as footnotes? Just another avenue to explore: Exploration of Jupiter - Potential Colonization Colonization of Europa Space colonizing (On Anacharsis's note ... you can check out Europa in fiction - but do be careful of Heinlein as some of his books aren't appropriate for younger kids - pre-reading is necessary!) (I focused more on Europa because we just covered Jupiter in our science this week so I'd already done some fishing around in the area.) These links are great, thank you! We did look up Europa in fiction and found a novella to check out. I'll get Farmer in the Sky too, but I totally take your point about Heinlein. I remember being grossed out by Time Enough for Love in my teens :ack2: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bocky Posted March 14, 2014 Author Share Posted March 14, 2014 Download JMARS here: jmars.asu.edu Create an account, it's free and no one will spam you. Start JMARS. It defaults to Mars. Under "Body", select whichever moon you want to start with. I suggest Europa, as the cloud layer means there are a lot of holes in the Titan dataset. Presto! NASA imaging data at your fingertips! Very cool! Thank you! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bocky Posted March 14, 2014 Author Share Posted March 14, 2014 I really liked a movie on Netflix called Europa Report. It isn't graphically violent, but can get scary. Maybe preview depending in your 6th grader. I looked up the plot. Everyone dies... might be a bit scary for me, let alone dd. Oh, dd is here and says she's plenty tough enough for PG 13. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lewelma Posted March 14, 2014 Share Posted March 14, 2014 Can I just say that I get the giggles every time I read your title, imagining those little hopping bunnies on Titan. Ruth in NZ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.