IMCA Insights – March 2010
Meteorites 101 at a Deaf School
by Pete Shugar
Background on Learning the Art of Sign Language
It was seventh grade. Her locker was just five away from mine. She was
shy. I never saw her with anyone else. I finally screwed up the mental
courage and taped a note to her locker, asking for a
date. Imagine my surprise when she gave me a note saying yes. I had
suggested a ice cream sundae at the local Woolworth. When she arrived, I found out
the reason she didn't have many friends. It was because she was deaf.
She then taught me the manual alphabet.
Photo courtesy of Pete Shugar
Thus began my love affair with sign language. Over the years, I did very
little to advance that beginning. About 15 years ago I chanced upon
another setting that required signing. I took a few free courses from
the school system and have continued to work on it ever since.
Ten years ago I found that my hearing was getting progressively worse. I
worked faster to learn more signs. Early last year all hearing in the
left ear was gone. The right ear was almost gone as well. I didn't have
too much trouble talking to someone face to face as I could read lips,
but I was very nervous as this was the first time I had to sign to an
audience, not counting my efforts at my home church.
Photo courtesy of Pete Shugar
The Meteorite
Teasers
I work for the school system here in Amarillo as a monitor on the bus to
keep the kids from killing the bus, the driver, or themselves. I almost
always put one or two meteorites in my pocket to show the kids on my
bus. I've even done this at church or at any other gathering of kids or
adults. Many is the parent that asks questions and want to learn
something about our visitors from space.
One day I had to drive a SUV as the sub driver on a route. It was to
fill in on the route that serves the deaf school here in Amarillo. I
always carry a few meteorites with me as there is always someone that
has never seen a meteorite or is a science buff that might like to see
and hold one. I soon discovered the pleasure of watching the "Look of
Wonder" that spreads across their face when they touch a meteorite.
Although almost all of my meteorites are micros, I do have a few larger
specimens as well as lunar and Martian micros in my collection. The boys
and girls really freak out when told that they have just touched a piece
of the Moon or Mars.
Photo courtesy of Pete Shugar
As usual, I had specimems with me that day and let a deaf girl touch several. She was very excited and her little fingers just flew far faster than I could read them as she told me of what it meant to be able to see and touch something that had been in space, but now it was in her hand. She was so thrilled to hold them. I promised to let her touch a lunar at a later time. The teacher saw the effect this had on "Karen Jo"* and asked me if I could come to the school and do a presentation. She saw that I signed and promised that I would have someone to help me if I got stuck for a word. I told her, "Yes, I would be glad to do the presentation".
Photo courtesy of Pete Shugar
Preparation
Seeing as I only had 3 weeks to get my act together, I asked the
MeteoriteCentral mailing list for some cheap meteorites that I could
afford. To my surprise, there was an outpouring of offers for free
samples. As these poured in, I became very proud of the members of this
list and felt that I would do all that I could to honor each and
everyone who helped make that presentation the best that I ever did. One
offer asked how many there would be in the class. I estimated 30 to 35.
What I didn't know was that there was 2 classes, each with 30 to 35
kids.
Well, when all the offers had arrived, I counted out all of the
meteorites. There were enough NWA 869's for one class and enough NWA
4293's for
the second class. Then there were all the large unclassified NWA's which
became the focus of the science teachers' gifts. There still remain the
many smaller unclassified NWA's that will find a home in a later
presentation. One batch of meteorites did not arrive till the evening
after the presentation. When I opened it up, there were 5 perfect small
Campos made into individuals with a loop for a necklace which made
perfect gifts for the teachers. I went back the next day
and left one for the principal, as well as for the teacher who invited me.
Photo courtesy of Pete Shugar
The IMCA "Meteorites 101" PowerPoint presentation was a big help, but I had to trim it down because of time limits. Some of it was just too technical for the lower grade levels. I dug into the history of all the meteorites that I would present to find cool facts and tidbits that made the meteorites come alive, instead of just being a lump of rock and/or metal. I made sure not to take too many with me as there is such a thing as overload. Too many also makes it hard to keep up with what is being passed around. The last thing you need is to lose one of your more valuable meteorites.
The Moment of Truth
Arrives
I first told of my awakening to meteorites and what I collected and why.
I showed several must read books and told of the work of H.H. Nininger
as the father of Meteoritics. The children were very attentive and all
asked good questions that showed a grasp of the science of meteoritics.
I was asked how the meteoroid could be dislodged from the asteroid belt.
What made all the meteoroids and asteroids in the first place? How do we
know that this meteorite is from 4 Vesta? These questions and many more
were asked and answered.
Photo courtesy of Pete Shugar
"Vaca Muerta" was cool,
I just passed Valera around with no explaination. The boys thought it
was cool, but the girls just squeeled "Eewweee" when told that Valera
was the "bullet" that killed a cow. Of course, the question "Has a
meteorite ever killed a person?" came next. I showed the very
micro-micro of Sylacauga. "Its so small", they said. I told of how hard
it was to obtain it. Every meteorite brought more questions. The
meteorites caused several to want to study and learn more about them.
One thought it would make a very interesting science fair project.
At the conclusion of the presentation I had one of the teachers pass out
to each member of the class a meteorite. I wanted a teacher to not look
at each one, but to simply reach into the box and pass one out. I was
worried that there would be much made of the "I got one bigger than you"
syndrome. These fourth and fifth grade boys and girls had a wonderful
time. I was elated at the reception I received. I became the man of the
hour in the eyes of kids as well as the teachers. It's good to be a good
role model for them. The teachers were very happy to have my resources
there for them to use. They were also surprised to receive some very
cool looking unclassified NWA's for later use in the classroom.
Photo courtesy of Pete Shugar
Conclusions and Lessons Learned
I fully believe that the giveaways were what made such a big impact upon
the overall success of any effort to reach the students. You just need
to be willing to spend a little time with them. The payoff is unreal.
My only regret was that I could have used at least 30 more minutes per
class to cover more fully all that needed to be covered.
*Not her real name.
-- This article will also be published in a future issue of Meteorite Magazine --
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