posted October 16, 2013
Jose Fuentes, Public Relations and Communications Coordinator
On Wednesday October 9, students of Colegio Interamericano had the unique opportunity of meeting one of the few human beings to have ever set foot in outer space. Thomas David Jones, a former United States astronaut, active from 1990 to 2001, was kind enough to let our second grade students ask him some questions about the solar system and his fascinating job through a short and highly informative video conference.
This activity came to fruition thanks to the initiative of our second grade teacher Kimberly Turner. While working with our Literacy by Design program on a section on outer space and the solar system, she remembered having met Captain Jones last year.
“We had just been talking about the solar system and they kept asking questions about the topic, asking to see more Brainpop videos, coming in during lunch to talk about outer space,” Ms. Turner said. She took their motivation and decided to pitch the idea to both students and faculty. Elementary teachers students took to the initiative immediately.
“I remember how excited I was when I first met him. I mean, how often do you meet someone who’s been to outer space?” Ms. Turner commented.
Prior to video conference, students were asked to come up with questions for Captain Jones. Out of all the inquiries, ten were selected, proofread and rehearsed by the students who wrote them. “We emailed parents ahead of time, so the selected students could be prepared to ask with confidence and determination,” said Ms. Turner.
The result was an enormous success. The first floor of the library was set up to accommodate the three Second Grade classes, a large screen was placed at the front, to project the video conference, and a microphone was made ready at the front, where students would stand and ask away. Once there, students stood sat down an patiently awaited their turn. Some of the questions asked were, “Which is your favorite planet?”, “What can you eat in outer space?” and “Do you think life exists outside of earth?” Captain Jones answered honestly and directly, going into great detail about his own experience.
He wrote an email later that day, addressed to Interamericano’s Second Grade classes, in which he remarked: “I was really impressed with their English and they’re great questions. I hope they choose careers in math, technology, and the sciences, and shoot for the stars!”
In an effort to solidify what they had learned, students were asked to write short thank you notes to Captain Jones. These were then sent to him on behalf of everyone involved in this fun endeavor. Ms. Turner commented, “I was worried his answers were rather long, but the students took to the information easily. They remembered so many specific things Captain Jones talked about. It was truly remarkable.”
Colegio Interamericano’s Literacy by Design program encourages teachers to do these kind of activities. The integration of several subjects like science or social studies into literature is a great asset that makes this a cornerstone of our school’s curriculum. “It would be silly to talk about the moon in the Literacy by Design class and then wait a couple of months to go back to the moon in science class,” said Ms. Turner. This program allows us to incorporate several classes into one subject, submerging students into a topic in a richer and fuller way.”
During this activity, students not only had a chance to have a one-on-one talk with a person who could better answer their questions about space travel, but also practice their English and give flight to their imagination. “This would give them an experience they would remember,” Ms. Turner said, “to allow them to make the connection, that even though Captain Jones was this really cool astronaut, at the end of the day he’s just a normal human being like you or me.”
