Introduction

A. The Hubble Space Telescope is a manned satellite, with astronauts living and conducting research on it as it orbits the Earth.

B. The telescope is unmanned and controlled from the Earth. Astronomers request observation time on the telescope and conduct their research on Earth.

A. The Hubble Space Telescope can only magnify visible space objects.

B. The Hubble telescope can magnify objects so that astronomers can see them more clearly. But the telescope also can detect objects that are invisible to the human eye, such as infrared and ultraviolet light.
     —Adapted from Amazing Space - Myths: Space Technology. Retrieved June 2, 2007.

The "A" statements are representative of the misconceptions middle school students may hold regarding space exploration. One explanation could be that manned spacecraft exploration has received more media attention because it captures human interest to a greater degree than do unmanned satellites such as the Hubble Space Telescope, Cassini or Galileo. But it is these unmanned satellites, more so than manned spacecraft flights, that provide an unfathomable quantity of data and images regarding our universe.

In More Trouble for Hubble, a March 2003 article in Discover Magazine, the anticipated doomsday of the Hubble telescope is described, as are the circumstances that led to its subsequent new lease on life. It's back by popular demand! The magazine's blog, DiscoBlog, received a posting in November 2006 announcing NASA would have a space shuttle mission in May 2008 designed to repair Hubble, and save it from falling into the atmosphere and dying. There is a sizable fraction of Americans who believe this kind of space exploration should go on, even at incredible expense and personal risk to astronauts.

Is a study of space part of your curriculum? Can you justify a space study unit? A study of space integrates aspects from almost all the content standards of the National Science Education Standards, allowing you a great deal of latitude and choice in your approach.

How does knowing how far away a star is or the size of a galaxy benefit life on earth? It is not uncommon for students to question the value of space exploration. This publication will assist you in helping your students acquire an accurate concept of and an appreciation for space exploration. After providing background information for teachers, we address the questions: Why study space? and Who studies space and how? Other sections highlight two fascinating aspects of space: evolution of the universe and the nature of galaxies.

---

by Mary LeFever

Mary LeFever is a resource specialist for the Middle School Portal, and a doctoral candidate in science education at Ohio State University. She has taught middle school and high school science and is an adjunct instructor of biology and natural sciences at Columbus State Community College. Please email any comments to msp@msteacher.org.

---

 Back to top

Copyright August 2007 — The Ohio State University. This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. 0424671. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License.