The Celestia Learning Adventure

I began working with the Celestia software during my business trip to Puerto Rico. Because of my busy schedule, I was hoping that the learning curve would be minimal and that I would quicky learn the basics. To my surprise, the program loaded with no problems, and I was relieved at how easy it was getting started. Since I normally avoid manuals and instructions, I decided to forgo using a lesson plan, and began navigating by trial and error. Using the "goto" function to navigate, I traveled to planets and a few stars. Although my skills at this point were minimal, I still enjoyed the exploring.

When I returned home from my trip, I decided to show the program to my kids. Matthew and Kristin were most interested and took over learning the fine points of the software. I was amazing how they quickly learned and began doing things that had either escaped or frustrated me. For example, Matthew was the one who figured how to simply orbit around objects using the mouse. Kristin discovered how to locate and travel to distant stars and galaxies. Together, we spent over an hour moving through the Milky Way and traveling to stars. We then captured and saved our favorite images. When I asked them how long was a light-year, Matthew quickly ran to a dictionary to search for the answer. Everyone was amazed at the incredible distances. The learning was contagious.

I hope to revisit the program with my little CoP later this week. Because our time was limited, I know we were only able to scratch the surface of the program. The opportunities for learning seemed endless. It was great to see how technology is able capture the interest of children.

What was the appeal of Celestia? It might have been the vivid graphics or simply the fascination with space. However, I would guess what Matthew and Kristin enjoyed the most was their ability chart their own space travel. They were constructing their own learning and traveling to wherever their interests took them. It was very enjoyable to watch.