Larry Lebofsky, a Planetary Science Institute senior education and communication specialist, and Rob Lorenz of the Vatican Observatory, recently participated in Mesa Verde Elementary School’s family science night. Over 200 students and their family members attended.
PSI participates in family science nights often. Last year alone, Lebofsky attended 15, often accompanied by PSI Senior Scientist and education and outreach specialist Sanlyn Buxner.
To teach the Mesa Verde families about the mysterious space rocks, Lebofsky and Lorenz brought a PSI-curated collection of small meteorites from the Moon, Mars and Vesta – a large object in the asteroid belt – as well as a few meteorites from Lebofsky’s personal collection.
Lebofsky asked participants to compare meteorites with Earth rocks. He prompted them to note that meteorites are heavier (because they’re denser) and attracted to magnets (because they contain iron).
“I love explaining to them that these are the oldest rocks they will ever hold and giving a meteorite to the kids that like to collect rocks or really show interest in space,” Lebofsky said. “We gave out 35 at the last event!”