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I wish I had a
program like this when

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I was in fourth or fifth
grade to show me that science

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is super exciting and not just
something that you go to class,

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and that's it.

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Dark Skies, Bright
Kids is a primarily

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graduate-student-run
organization

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at the University of Virginia.

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We do a lot of outreach
with elementary,

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early-middle-school-aged
students in Charlottesville

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to bring astronomy
into the classroom.

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All of our activities are
meant as games or experiments.

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Last week we did the
impacts experiment.

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We have buckets
filled with flour,

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and they drop different
marbles and golf balls for them

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to get a sense of how different
craters on the moon and Mars

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could have been formed.

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It's more of an experiment,
and they have to try different

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things and see what
works and what doesn't.

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And sometimes they come
to the right answer,

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and sometimes they don't.

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So it's teaching them that
it's OK to not quite know,

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and it's OK to guess.

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[MUSIC PLAYING]

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Their sense of wonder helps
them view the universe

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in a totally different way.

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They have no preconceived
notions about how things

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should work or shouldn't work.

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They can ask crazy questions.

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That's a lot of
what astronomers do

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is they ask these
questions that seemed

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like they were a ridiculous
question to begin with.

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Like, "what do you
mean the Earth is not

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the center of the solar system?"

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Being able to get them into
science and critical thinking

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like that is important
at an early age.

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The kids always have fun.

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That's our number one priority.

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The age group that these kids
are at start to think science

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isn't cool anymore.

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And what we're
really trying to do

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is teach them that science is
cool, and this is for everyone.

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It's super interesting.

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You shouldn't be bored
in your science classes.

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[MUSIC PLAYING]

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It's really great to be able
to provide these telescopes,

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provide the
planetarium, provide all

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the different hands-on
activities with the kids

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in our club and the
community at large.

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It's really important to
us to reach as many kids

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as we absolutely can.

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[MUSIC PLAYING]

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Learning with the kids
and having them remind us

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that what we do
is really cool, I

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think we get a lot more
from it than we realize.

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