Science education for kids and toddlers
ABOUT US
WHO and WHAT is Young Star Watchers?
First formed in 1999, the Young Star Watcher programme promotes the scientific education of young children and their families through hands on experience of scientific concepts and processes.
The programme's objective is to seek relevant and enjoyable ways to teach complex astronomy science understandings to the youngest child and the oldest adult: to make science and astronomy available to young children.
Young Star Watchers has always been a non-profit programme. The programme at Nepean Observatory where it all started is now “Young Scientists”.
We have come to many realizations since we started. These include:
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Young children’s interest in science and their capacity grasp scientific principles is enormous.
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Children have a great hunger for meaningful scientific knowledge.
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Most of their knowledge in these areas is drawn from the media, computer programs and the like, in a piece-meal fashion—the mainstream school system only really provides a comprehensive science program in Secondary School.
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Many parents find themselves unable to assist young children to extend their interests in these areas.
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Family learning is valuable to both children and parents. It provides children with a non-threatening, non-competitive environment, and enhances the parent-child bond. A program was needed that made learning about the universe and science accessible, meaningful and enjoyable for families - children and adults.
Young Star Watchers @ Macquarie
Young Star Watchers has been around for 16 years and is now at Macquarie University. It all started when children at preschool asked about the moon in the daytime sky. That began a journey of wonder and discovery for the children and me. We painted the sky, explored shadows, wondered about clouds, made constellations, investigated daytime and night-time animals and plants, studied the patterns made by light and the spectrum, investigated how telescopes worked ... and many other things too.
That year at preschool shaped my life and began the Star Watcher Programme at Nepean Observatory. There have been many changes since. Families have come and gone because their children outgrew early childhood (2 – 8). There have been many discussions about what families want to know about astronomy, but the facts are that everything links to astronomy. All the sciences (perhaps not psychology ...) pivot on astronomy somewhere. Think about what our body needs from the food we eat ... calcium for our bones (...comes from a star!); fresh air to breathe (we have an atmosphere!); stable homes to live in (thanks gravity! and thanks to engineers who build to withstand earthquakes), rich soils which are full of the chemicals like potassium and nitrogen (which also came from a star!).
Our lives depend on that inner core of our planet which is a magnet. That magnet gives us a magnetosphere – a protective barrier around our planet which repels charged particles from the Sun and allows us to have a natural atmosphere of nitrogen, oxygen, carbon dioxide and argon. Our lives are shaped by the planet we live on in ways we hardly notice. Ours is the Goldilocks Planet—the just-right planet! It’s time for our children to see the big picture — the gestalt — the science which formed and controls life on Earth. Maybe they will be the ones to save our planet.