From Jeff –
To everyone participating in my Zumba classes in Howard County, together we have established a wonderful community wellness program focused on health through aerobic dance. But community wellness ought to apply to both body and mind. In this context, on behalf of the National Center for Earth and Space Science Education, and my partners in Howard County on the Zumba classes – We Promote Health, and the The Church at Covenant Park – I wanted to send you and your family this special invitation.
You know me as your Zumba instructor, but as an astrophysicist I also wear another hat as the Center Director for the National Center for Earth and Space Science Education. One of the programs I started 25 years ago, which is still going strong, is Family Science Night at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum. We have an evening scheduled on Wednesday, March 7, 2018, and as of now have a block of 50 extra seats. I would therefore like to extend an invitation to you and your family to this very special evening. John Hamel, our Flight Operations Manager for our Student Spaceflight Experiments Program, is also coordinating the Family Night on March 7, and will handle all the logistics for signing up.
I’ve provided a description of the Family Science Night Program below, and I think you’ll see it is designed to truly inspire the next generation – and as an evening that can be remembered for a lifetime.
Some important points-
- Each evening requires a minimum sign up of 450 parents, students and teachers from area schools. The March 7 evening has been assigned to two schools in Montgomery County: Silver Creek Middle School and Westland Middle School. They are currently at their maximum sign up of 440, against a theater capacity of 490 seats. We have therefore reserved a block of 50 seats for you, the Howard County Community. As the schools revise their sign up numbers by early next week, we may have more seats that can be assigned to Howard County.
- For Howard County, attendees will need to drive down to the Museum on the National Mall in DC, and leave plenty of time to get there during rush hour by program start at 6:45 pm. The program is not over until 9:00 to 9:10 pm, and the drive home will be nearly an hour. So you need to take into account that this would be a late night for you, and on a school night, not getting home until likely just after 10 pm.
- If you don’t have school-aged children, but want to attend and be inspired by the majesty of the universe, you can sign up too!
- The program is suitable for 4th grade and up.
- The 50 Howard County seats will be assigned on a first come first served basis, and the program is free.
- THIS IS REALLY IMPORTANT – only sign up if you are very confident you can attend. We only have 50 seats, and if you sign up for a few seats, and then do not show up, that will be denying another family a truly memorable evening. If you sign up, you are making a serious commitment to attend.
- Once the 50 seats are taken, we will start a Howard County waiting list in case more seats open up.
- If there is a great deal of Howard County interest, we will explore having an evening next year either just for the Howard County community, or splitting an evening with one of the school communities.
The Family Science Night Program
The National Center for Earth and Space Science Education (NCESSE; http://ncesse.org) and the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum would like to invite you to participate in the Family Science Night Program for the 2017-18 academic year.
Family Science Night (FSN) fosters wonderful opportunities for parents and their children to talk about science, our world, and the cosmos—it helps launch family learning. The program takes place at one of the most visited museums on the planet. Millions of visitors a year come to the National Air and Space Museum to see the machines that gave life to human dreams of flight in air and space.
FSN provides a school field trip designed for families to the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum on the National Mall in Washington, DC. The program takes place after the close of normal Museum hours for up to 480 parents, students, and educators from area schools. It’s a family learning experience on space science subjects that are taught in the classroom. Adults do not participate as chaperones, but as parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, and big brothers and sisters to the children. It is a chance for a shared, cross-generational learning experience in space science education. We encourage you to invite students, their extended families, and your colleagues and their families.
The centerpiece of the program is a presentation by a space science researcher who is passionate about the frontiers of exploration, and gifted at conveying that passion to audiences of all ages. The experience provides a window on the nature of science and the lives of modern-day explorers, with special emphasis on not just what is known about the Universe but how it has come to be known. This approach serves to reveal the very personal means by which researchers ask questions of the world, empower themselves to create a pathway to an answer, and hopefully bear witness to something wholly new to the human race. It is an approach that gets young and old alike excited about science, and helps to inspire the next generation of scientists and engineers.
A Family Science Night starts at 6:45 pm with guests entering the Museum in the Milestones of Flight gallery where some of the most remarkable flying machines ever constructed are on display, including: the Spirit of St. Louis, the Bell X-1, an X-15, the early rockets of Robert Goddard, Sputnik, and Friendship 7 (John Glenn’s Mercury capsule). Guests will also have access to the interactive gallery How Things Fly. At 7:15 pm the program moves to the Lockheed Martin IMAX® Theater for a 45-minute presentation by a NCESSE space scientist followed by an IMAX® film. Schools can choose from 9 presentations and 6 IMAX® films (titles may vary). The large number of choices allows educators to integrate the program into the curriculum. The program is over by 9:00 pm.
With the curricular connection, the program provides parents a window on the education of their children; schools a way to build bridges to the community; the Museum a chance to augment the classroom experience with their unique collections, exhibits, films, and educational programs; and researchers an opportunity to share what it’s like to work on the great frontiers.
Family Science Night is a program of the National Center for Earth and Space Science Education and the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum. The program is made possible by a grant from the Maryland Space Grant Consortium.
The Evening Program on March 7, 2018
Evening Schedule
6:45-7:15 pm Arrival at Museum; explore open galleries
7:15-7:25 Entry to IMAX® Theater
7:25-8:10 Presentation by a way cool space scientist
8:10-8:55 IMAX® Film
8:55-9:00 Exit Museum
Parking and Entry to Museum
Attendees need to enter and exit the Museum on Independence Avenue. There is plenty of parking on the street at this time. Doors open at 6:45 pm. In case of early arrival in inclement weather, folks should remain in their cars until the 6:45 pm opening.
Presentation
A Voyage that will Forever Change Your Perspective of Home
Speaker: Dr. Jeff Goldstein, Center Director, National Center for Earth and Space Science Education
Speaker Bio, Presentation History, Attendee Feedback
When we venture beyond our home and explore a greater landscape—whether it’s the town beyond our house, or a planet beyond the Earth—we gain a deeper sense of our own existence. It’s a fundamental principle of exploration. To truly know and appreciate our home, we must leave it. So to truly know and appreciate a place called Earth, we must venture beyond it, and recognize the breadth and majesty of a greater universe.
From another vantage point—we are integrally connected to the universe, and it to us—so to know the universe is to know ourselves. And while we may seem small in its shadow, beauty has nothing to do with size—for the universe is revealed with something the size of the human mind.
You’re invited to the story of our existence—a race of explorers, 7 billion tiny souls strong. It is a story that ignites wonder about the universe, and a sense of pride in our ability to reveal its nature through both human imagination and ingenuity. It is a story that humbles us, and brings a sense of humility to our lives. It is a voyage that will forever change your perspective of home.
IMAX® Film
Blue Planet
A breathtaking view of our home world through the eyes of IMAX® cameras aboard the Space Shuttle and on the ground. The film explores the natural and human forces that shape and stress the delicate environmental balance on Earth. Blue Planet does an excellent job of placing familiar local environments and habitats in a global context.
Sign Up Here
Remember – only sign up if you are very confident you can attend. We only have 50 seats, and if you sign up for a few seats, and then do not show up, that will be denying another family a truly memorable evening. If you sign up, you are making a serious commitment to attend.
