Pupils from a Bradford junior school had a ‘once in a lifetime chance’ to get their hands-on rare samples of moon rocks and meteorites during a series of science lessons.
The pupils at Bradford Grammar Junior School were encouraged to learn more about the Universe during a week-long interactive experience of astronomy.
Youngsters were given the opportunity to touch a 1.2 billion-year-old piece of Mars rock and a 4.3 billion-year-old nickel meteorite, the latter of which had fallen to Earth from space. The lunar samples were collected in the late 1960s and early 1970s during some of NASA’s first manned space missions to the Moon.
The rare samples were provided free of charge by the UK’s Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC), which provides educational packs in a bid to inspire young people to get involved in science and complement classroom studies.
Pupil, Jacob L, said: “It was really enjoyable, especially the experiments. My favourite was the footsteps on the moon experiment with sand and flour.”
Fellow pupil, Amelia S, said: “It was a once in a lifetime chance to have the moon rocks in school. We got to touch the Moon. It was really incredible.”
Richard Ribeiro, the junior school’s Headmaster, said: “The children have been so excited to get their hands on a piece of space history, I don’t think they’ll ever get the chance to hold objects older than this given Earth itself was formed 4.6 billion years ago. It’s been a truly inspiring time for pupils and we’re very grateful to the STFC for bringing the samples to us.”
During the manned space missions to the moon, a staggering 382kg of material was brought back to Earth – mostly for use by scientists, but small quantities were used to develop educational packs.
The STFC packs have been recently updated to include a new meteorite hunter’s kit, new teacher planning pack and exciting new web-based resources and online support videos for all age groups.
STFC’s Executive Chair, Professor Mark Thomson, said: “We’re thrilled to be able to offer this unique opportunity to young people. It’s not often they’ll be able to see close-up, and actually touch, such important fragments of science history. Samples like these are vital in teaching us more about our solar system, allowing us to confront theory with fact. We hope this experience will encourage students to take up a career in science.”
STFC is the only authorised source to loan lunar samples to educational and scientific organisations in the UK.
“We got to touch the Moon. It was really incredible.”
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