Students and teachers in Hohenfels, Germany, have a teleconference with Jet Propulsion Laboratory physicist Steve Levin on Wednesday. (Seth Robson / S&S)
Students and teachers in Hohenfels, Germany, have a teleconference with Jet Propulsion Laboratory physicist Steve Levin on Wednesday. (Seth Robson / S&S)
Hohenfels, Germany, Middle and High School 11th-grade physics student Emily Mittag makes adjustments to a roller coaster she helped build as part of a math and science techology evening at the school on Wednesday. (Seth Robson / S&S)
HOHENFELS, Germany — Which moon can you live on? Have you ever been in space? How long does a spacecraft take to reach Jupiter? Do all planets emit radio waves?
These are a few of the questions schoolchildren had for Jet Propulsion Laboratory physicist Steve Levin during a math, science and technology evening at Hohenfels Middle and High School.
A teleconference with Levin was one of many activities at the school Wednesday night aimed at getting students excited about real-world science and math applications.
Levin, who has a doctorate in physics from the University of California at Berkeley and is an expert on the planet Jupiter, amazed the children with his knowledge of the gaseous giant.
He also told them about a job he had searching for aliens with the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence project and his work with radio telescopes to study star-forming regions in space.
Levin said his poor memory actually helped him form an interest in science.
“I have always been interested in math and science, but I’m bad at memorizing stuff,” he said. “When it came time for tests (at school), I was no good at remembering things they had already told me, so I’d figure it out on the spot.
That is what you need to do for science.”
Third-grader Kevin Brazie, 8, who asked Levin if he’d studied any other planets besides Jupiter (he hadn’t), said he’d like to travel to space.
“It sounds cool, but I wouldn’t fly the spaceship. That sounds a little complicated,” he added.
Hohenfels High School science and math teacher Randal Roberts said the evening was aimed at making the subjects fun for kids.
“It is not all intellectual. It can be fun and it can be interesting,” he said.
Martha McIntyre, another Hohenfels math teacher, said the science and math evening included a display of the constellations, a “guesstemation” in which students guessed the height of the school’s great hall, an exhibit with fossilized dinosaur eggs, an explosives exhibit run by firefighters from Hohenfels, a rainbow exhibit by the Girl Scouts and a mapping activity run by the Boy Scouts.
Questions about Jupiter
Which moon (orbiting Jupiter) can you live on?Europa is the one people are most excited about. We are pretty sure there is a liquid ocean that stretches all around Europa where there could be life. They could put a base there, but it is very cold.
Do all planets emit radio waves?Yes. Everything emits radio waves. You emit radio waves and the chair you are sitting in emits radio waves. Every object gives off radiation. Jupiter gives off more radiation than the other planets because of its big radiation belt.
How does Jupiter affect our lives?Jupiter tends to protect the other planets in the solar system because if objects from the outer solar system fall toward the sun, Jupiter influences their orbit and kicks them back out again. It protects us from getting hit by debris from outer space.
Source: Steve Levin, Jet Propulsion Laboratory physicist
