Recruiting 10 Year old Space Enthusiasts in Inner City Schools

John Wilkes, David Irwin and Jake Schomaker
Worcester Polytechnic Institute

Abstract

Fifth graders, age 10 are probably going to be the chosen ones. By that I mean that in 30 years they will be astronaut age (about 40) and be eligible to compete for slots on the first trips to Mars and to build the infrastructure necessary for a second generation (real architecture and built of local materials) lunar base. How should they be recruited and trained? We spent two months (twice a week for 45 minutes) teaching "space enriched" 5th grade science to a class of 18 fifth graders to get some ideas. The school served a relatively poor and racially mixed neighborhood. Could they relate to the theme and dream that big? Oh Yes.

We found that much of the science in the 5th grade text could be taught using the theme of a lunar base and setting aside the text for a month of "hands on" science. Science became the fun class. The capstone event was not just for this class. 400 fifth graders went to WPI to hear a distinguished speaker who writes for this age group and visit 6 "stations" representing different aspects of a lunar base. One of the stations was the lunar base "Design Review" and that session thrilled them. They all wanted to know when there would be a lunar base "mockup" for them to visit.

Presented at ISDC 2011 - Huntsville. Paper and presentation charts are not available.