Girl Scouts Go Crazy for Space
03.09.04
by Maura Rountree-Brown
We had a great time with Spanish Trails Council #235 as they studied the "neighborhood" of the solar system.
Along with learning the size of the planets and their distance from each other, the girls explored comets by learning a song with all the facts they needed to begin building their own comet models.
By choosing two facts they had learned about comets, the girls designed models as our own mission engineers do. These paper models may not seem as sophisticated as the computer programs used to model comets on a NASA mission. The thought process and practice of choosing and expressing elements of a planetary body here on Earth are very important for solving problems and testing theories. Our engineers and scientists can't wait to solve these problems once the spacecraft has left the ground because then, it is just too late.
I love working with the Girl Scouts because as a former Girl Scout and a current Brownie leader, I know that troop meetings, campouts and events can be a wonderful place to wonder and experiment about science and math.
Since I didn't have much science background before I came to the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, I like to remember that it's really all about asking questions and finding new information and then starting that process all over again to build knowledge.
Girls at this age need to be reminded that it's okay to say "I don't know" and then experiment to find answers. Leaders need to know that it's okay for them to feel the same way too.
