Another great question Neil was asked was: How do we need to modify our learning now that students have so much more information yet less guidance? The conversation around that mainly focused on how assessing source reliability needs to be a major part of our curriculum. He discussed how we teachers need to try to find a way to separate the objective reality from the bias and agenda ridden information that is so easily accessible. Especially now that there is not really a built-in filter and fact-checker into our information system as there used to be when information came from physically published and vetted sources. He finished his answer by saying
"a search engine is the ideal way to confirm any belief you have... no matter what the belief is".
Next up was how do you explain the magnitude of space to a student. He shared a few resources (listed below) that would help with this difficult visualization. The next question was: What is the most important astrophysics concept for everyone to know? Neil did not hesitate with his answer.
"We need to know the immensity of space and the immensity of time... those 2 are the hardest to grasp... once you get those concepts... then you have a true cosmic perspective of who and what we are here on Earth"
Knowing this allows humans to better understand how things like evolution, subduction, and geologic processes work over time periods well beyond our lives.
As Neil deGrasse Tyson wrapped up his session Dave asked him about the silver lining from this COVID pandemic. As a teacher going into the unknown again I found his answer quite moving. He said that this age of video conferencing we have effectively separated the necessity of both space and time, and now "the WHEN is all that matters", the where is tied to our computers which open up so many opportunities. I love that thought process and Neil deGrasse Tyson's words on our connectedness in our isolation are what I want to finish this section with:
"as the result of this coronavirus lockdown...as distant as we are from each other...we have never been closer simply because we can communicate in ways that we care about, with body language, with gestures, with carrying around the device. So by being more distant from each other, there is a part of it that actually makes us closer together, and if we carry that forward out of the coronaverse it's definitely another key tool that teachers can use and invoke to deliver content and instruction and whatever else is necessary to get the job done."
Resources mentioned by Neil or shared by others:
