Movie at Nairobi school

I arrive at Nairobi school and cover the long distance between the parking lot and adminstration block before I am met by Mr. Rugano, our contact and a physics teacher at the school. He invites me for evening coffee at the staff room where I meet with the teachers. We chat about general issues. After mingling with the teachers we proceed to the Chemistry lab.

This week we are watching an astronomy movie, Hubble Space telescope. The students are excited to be exposed to yet another fun way of learning.

The idea is to introduce the students to the different planets as viewed from a satellite. The previous week I was at the school and we ran through stellarium a sky exploration software. Watching the movie was a way to make the students visualize how the planets and other celestial bodies look. One of the students remarked that the movie has made astronomy more tangible. This view was shared by other students too.

After watching the movie for two hours, we have a question and answer session. We ask each other questions and try to respond to them. The topics of the discussion varied and when I asked the students if there was a likelihood of having other earth like planets orbiting other stars, one student had this interesting theory: 'when God created Adam, he commanded him that this was HIS home, he should take care of it. Meaning he had other sons that he allocated other planets to.' This kind of curiosity is what motivates me and makes me look forward to the next school visit.

Next week I am back at the Nairobi school and this time we will go through more exciting softwares that are Astronomy related.

The event was sponsored by Pulse Health care Ltd.