How Science is Done

I wish I had a dime for every time I have heard that we as teachers need to teach students how to do the scientific method.  I could have earned more than my regular paycheck at times.  When I get students in my class, many times I have to relieve them of the notion that there is only one way of doing science.  Many think that discoveries are made mostly when scientists look for them.  The idea that a lot of science is happenstance surprises them.  MESSENGER has a lot of science that was planned, but just like any other science experiment, it is the unplanned surprises that sometimes bring interesting results.  One of the coolest things i have heard during the past week was when Jim McAdam described the first-ever experiments with solar sailing.  Scientists started wondering about the intense light pressure from the Sun and how it was affecting MESSENGER.  By altering the angles of the solar panels they were able to get data and eventually do course corrections on MESSENGER without loss of fuel.  This was never discussed before the launch and was all done on the fly as MESSENGER was traveling to Mercury.  Using solar sailing they were able to get within 1.6 Km of the target area after traveling 2/3 of a Billion Kms.  Kind of like hitting a bulls eye on a dart board in LA when it was thrown from NYC.  Not bad.

So the next time someone tells you that you are going to use THE Scientific Method ask them “Which one?”

Sleepless Nights

Fellows meeting 3 AM for Mercury Flyby Event

Okay, I am rested after three nights of less than two hours of sleep a night.  I tried to describe the atmosphere at MOC during the flyby, but I don’t think I did  a good job.  There was this quiet tenseness in the air.  Everybody spoke, not in whispers, but with this forced control.  Excitement hung in the air like smoke. The five MESSENGER Fellows were acting like they had each downed a pot of espresso but upon entering quickly bottled up their enthusiasm – just like everyone else.  I have made the analogy that i felt like a five year old on Christmas morning and that is not far from the truth.  I could see the same expression that I assumed was on my face echoed in the eye’s of everyone in MESSENGER MOC.  What was interesting was the reticence at first, the fellows and the MESSENGER people to interact.  I think everyone was nervous about how this historic interaction was going to work out.  But after a while Jim McAdam,Mission Design Lead Engineer, took a couple of us and explained the animations he created and gently explained to us some of the science that the team was looking at.

At this point, I should explain that the MESSENGER fellows represent a wide swatch of the education world, from pre-K through college.  I think some scientists were afraid to try to explain their science and work to people who did not understand it.  And i think the teachers were afraid of the scientists speaking over their heads.  Which is, in fact, why the fellows were here to begin with.  Scientists and engineers are not teachers and teachers are not scientists and it takes a very talented person to be both.  Probably the best example of the teacher/scientists that i can think of is Richard Feynman.  If you don’t know who he is, and even if you do, go read “Surely, You’re Joking Mr. Feynman!”  I wish I had met the man.  His life story has been an inspiration to me.

The scientists and teachers needn’t have been afraid.  Once the ice had been broken between the two groups, the conversations flowed like champagne at a cocktail party.  Laughter abounded and evyone had a good time.  It was a wonderful experience to be able to talk to the people at the forefront of scientific exploration.  I hope it was as interesting to the MESSENGER team as it was for me.  It was defintiely worth a few sleepless nights.