Petdad

Ok, I am a geeky learner. I own and embrace it. For years, I have everyday shown my class the NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day and it always springs spontaneous discussion about some things we do know, and a lot of which we do not. I love that, because it encourages the desire to learn, and the desire to learn more. There is always a description along with the featured image of the day and often the description will include distance of the pictured object, or angle span of what we are seeing.

Our universe is incredible in every way. Notably when reference is made that an object in space is ‘x’ distance away from earth, or let’s say 1,500 light years distant from the earth, it boggles my mind. Information like that bears repeating in a manner in which my students can try to grasp so I interpret what we just read…”Boys and Girls, that means you would have to travel 186,264 miles per second for one thousand-five hundred years in order to arrive at this pictured location”. My students are always in awe, and it gets them to think, a lot.

In response to a particularly visual-stimulated image, a student will sometimes say ‘that looks like something from Star Wars’. I always tell them, you mean Star Wars looks like this!

Imagination just doesn’t come out of thin air, it comes from our knowledge, our desire to learn, and the ability to make connections, near and far. It boggles the mind of those who stop, and think.