Beyond Earth (ATWG) - Chapter 19 - Sowing Inspiration for Generations of Space Adventurers by Becky Cross
From The Space Library
Chapter 19
Sowing Inspiration for Generations of Space Adventurers
By Becky Cross
The quest for the stars and our ability to make our dreams manifest is highly contingent upon our unwillingness to defer those dreams. We need to be inspired, determined, bold, and open-minded to make it happen. We also need to share what we know with those who don't including students, parents, and educators who are preparing for the future every day so that they will come to understand the opportunities that space may soon provide. Humans around the world have repeatedly shown a strong desire to help one another in times of adversity. Space offers unlimited potential benefits for all of humanity and the opportunity to do so without needing a catastrophe to make it happen!
Our efforts to explore space have already had an enormous influence on the technology we use and how we use it. Likewise current and new space technology has great potential for the development of new commercial space ventures that will lead to future jobs. Historically, the inspiration and push for space has also driven our education systems through its natural intriguing, innovative nature. Conquering the unknown is not only highly creative it can also be highly motivational for our educational environments and for spawning new commercial space ventures (future jobs). By sowing the seeds of inspiration and opening the doors of opportunity, we will see the growth of a new generation of space adventurers. We simply need to put our minds to it and make it happen!
Stimulating and Pushing Educational Boundaries
Over the past eight years I have interacted with more than 15,000 students from kindergarten through high school. I have presented them with images and ideas about the human adventure in space; discussed the possibilities for the future; and made surprising discoveries about their own beliefs, attitudes, ideas and aspirations concerning space.
For example, I understand that children have a natural fascination with space at a very early age (Pre-K-3rd grade). There is a dreamy quality to their perceptions and the nature of the vast unknown is not as daunting to the majority of them as it is to many adults. They simply take it in. Young children can readily picture themselves in a space environment and often ask questions about day to day activities like, "How do you go to the bathroom in space?" To them, day to day living in space is as easy to imagine as their day to day living here on Earth. The obstacles that often concern adults about future space are merely "things to figure out" to young children, and they pass them off with a shrug while absorbing new information at an incredible rate. They are open-minded and creative. They don't experience a sense of futility at the magnitude of the challenge, nor do they get fixated on budgetary limitations that prevent them from considering what it means to reach beyond our planet. Simply put, with this age group if they are interested, there are no obstacles in their way, and they simply want to go!
Many older school-aged children (4-6th grades) still look at space as something really cool, but they have the attitude that it is something that only a few lucky people get to do, and that it costs a lot! They, like many others, do not understand the extended benefits that space development offers our society. Many would love to go and they certainly think about what it would be like, but by this age most have already determined that the odds are stacked against them. It might surprise you to learn, however, that children in this particular age group are fascinated with money! They like to know what things cost (and why) and are excellent candidates for teaching good business skills to promote future space ventures because of their interest in the topic. Unfortunately, when these students are surrounded by parents, teachers, and mentors who have a lack of knowledge or even the slightest degree of negative attitude about current space, they easily become jaded. This in turn becomes a great deterrent to their creativity, imagination, and desire to get involved. They don't think they can.
There is a wealth of multimedia material on the topic of space that is well suited for this particular age group, but many don't connect with it. This group can be highly motivated, however, when given the opportunity, so it is essential that we bridge this gap by giving them the tools they need to get involved. Hands-on after-school programs that engage these kids in the topic is one way to do so.
Very few 7th-12th grade students see space as a career opportunity unless they are already intrinsically motivated or mentored by someone else who understands the potential. Most are not aware of the opportunities that are soon likely to emerge through organizations like NASA, nor do they realize the larger potential that's soon to be available through commercial space ventures around the world. A quick look at a Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) map of current and pending spaceports in the US has helped me open their eyes to how close our reach into space is and how different the world can be in only a matter of a few years. An overview of worldwide space efforts expands their view making the potential for future space activities seem closer to their own experiences. Efforts to share this knowledge more broadly can affect their perspective.
7th and 8th graders are a highly tumultuous and unpredictable age group, and most are not yet focused on their own futures. However, they can readily be encouraged to "take another look at space" under the right circumstances. Offering students of this age group new opportunities that they perceive to have personal value to them is one way to get them involved. When they get involved, they can be very dedicated. Many space education organizations including NASA, European Space Agency (ESA), and others, are currently seeking to gain their interest through fresh approaches that tap into their existing interests. These approaches include games and programs that meld space with their most popular past times including: sports, gaming, music, Web-surfing, and Internet chat rooms.
Once students enter high school most have already decided if they are going to enter a science (space-related) career. Based on current space planning by NASA, the FAA Office of Commercial Space, other international space organizations, and privately held space companies, within as little as 10-15 years a significant number of people could be living in space, and space travel (tourism) may become more commonplace. Based on the same planning, within 30 years, it is estimated that entire communities will exist in space, and organizations like NASA anticipate that humans will be living on the Moon and potentially, Mars. Space communities will require citizens with education and skills in an enormous variety of fields, and anticipating these needs in the workforce while disseminating information through the education systems of the world will itself influence the future of space and the pace of its development. Unfortunately most student mentors are unaware of current space development and that there are many fields not directly related to science that could still bring our future workforce (today's students) into intimate contact with space. It is essential that we reduce this gap in understanding by examining career options for the near-future space workforce and provide it to those who mentor students in career opportunities.
Considering the "What's in it for Me?" Perspective
Perhaps the greatest obstacle we face in promoting space is that on a broad scale the general public, including many in our education system, are simply unaware of how close we are to fulfilling our desire to reach space, or how close they may be to participating in it.
We live in a society that wants and needs to be convinced why they should take time to understand and get involved in something new. Many times these questions circle the issue of money: spending it and making it. We live in a world of vast opportunity and immediate gratification through technology and high speed Internet connections. Life has so many opportunities for the individual living in a technological society, that it is up to the space community to convince them that they should get involved. I have found that K-12 children are the same way and need the same kind of convincing.
Even young children ask the seemingly belligerent questions, "Why should I do it?" and "What's in it for me?" Adults all around them consider these same questions every day as part of their daily routines. As a result, kids appear to be apathetic concerning their own education as well as the kind of future lives they will have. Nevertheless, if we can demonstrate to them why they should look at space as a future that they may be a part of, not only with they rise to the challenges set before them, but they will do so with amazing elegance and ease. They simply need to be informed and invited.
Sowing Public Support through New Business Ventures
Technologies developed in our quest to go to space have helped society in many ways through technology transfer (spin-off). To date there have been more than 1500 successful spin-offs from NASA-developed technology being used in the private sector. Some common spin-offs include smoke detectors, ear thermometers, pacemakers, and strong lightweight materials used in bike helmets. [See also chapter 14.] Many of these products have improved our daily lives, and others have the potential to help solve larger issues facing the worldwide community today. Spin-offs also offer great potential for the entrepreneur interested in getting involved in future space initiatives. This is particularly important when considering how to inspire generations of future space workers. For students interested in business, understanding how to use space technology for potential business ventures by learning business planning and the associated space law could open a whole new realm for existing space programs and add breadth to the job pool for those wanting to be a part of this exciting future.
The space community needs the support of a large portion of the public to stir the reach out into the solar system; not just because of the need of our education system as potential future workforce, but also because of the economic stimulus space provides. Understanding the extended (spin-off and economic) benefits to society will help in that way. Simply put, dollars spent on the reach for space equals jobs! Jobs help individuals pay their bills. The push to go to space also stimulates the development of new technology, and in turn that technology improves the quality of our lives here on Earth.
Another key element of the space movement is the fact that the average age of those working in aerospace community today is 50 years old. It is essential to develop a future workforce to replace those who will be reaching retirement age soon to support NASA's mission to "Moon, Mars, and Beyond," as well as for ventures in the commercial space community. [See also Chapter 15, Space Exploration and a New Paradigm for Education and Human Capital Development.]
Thus, if people are apathetic about the future, distracted by the many opportunities available in the modern technological world, or resisting because they don't see what's in it for them, it is up to space enthusiasts to convince them that they should get involved. Spin-off technology is a great tool to help do so!
Going Places
To accelerate our progress in the development of space exploration and in space industry we need to expose children, teachers, guidance counselors, parents, and businesses to the technology that is available now, to invite them to use their own creativity and imaginations to reach beyond where we have gone already, and to help them bridge the gap between being a dreamer and making it happen.
As we give them the tools they need we will all work together to get there ... because we should and because we can!
Extracted from the book Beyond Earth - The Future of Humans in Space edited by Bob Krone ©2006 Apogee Books ISBN 978-1-894959-41-4
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