Earth can be thought of as a kind of spaceship: a vessel traveling around the sun, transporting us through space. Of course, most people think of Earth simply as home. And since it’s our only home as we traverse the cold austerity of space, its resources must be made to last, its delicate balance maintained. These were the main ideas impressed upon a small group of Grade 3 and 4 students who took a six-week after-school enrichment course called “Spaceship Earth.”

Lower School technology teacher Susan Ferris Rights created the after-school program and led a group of enthusiastic students through hands-on activities on Thursday afternoons in April and May. She explains that “the idea behind the course was to understand where we are—literally— [within the solar system] . . . and to begin to understand the delicate nature of our home—Earth.”

Program participants first learned about the solar system, with each student assigned a planet to research. Later playing the roles of their assigned planets, students arranged themselves in the school’s parking lot as though they were the solar system, their distances from one another directly proportional to the actual distances between the various planets.

The students’ attention then turned to the wider galaxy as they stepped inside of StarLab, an inflatable, portable planetarium that can accommodate up to 25 students. Inside the planetarium’s dome, they explored the Milky Way, several constellations, and some of our closer planets. The planetarium also gave students a chance to see Earth from a distance—and to appreciate just how fragile that tiny blue orb can seem in the vastness of space.

Naturally, the students’ focus then shifted to the delicacy of Earth, as they studied its limited natural resources and the possibility of using wind and solar power to solve our energy needs. As activities for this section, students made small solar-powered cars and constructed miniature windmills capable of generating enough electricity to illuminate a light bulb.

On the program’s final afternoon, the students and Mrs. Ferris Rights discussed the possibility of one day harnessing the frequent winds at an upper school field for wind power.

Whether or not the idea comes to fruition, Mrs. Ferris Rights is confident her bright students have learned the importance of safeguarding Spaceship Earth—our precious home, as we travel through the blackness of space.



© 2008 The Pingry School