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Jeff Bennett (jeff@bigkidscience.com)

www.JeffreyBennett.com

www.BigKidScience.com

THE COSMIC PERSPECTIVE�A PERSONAL JOURNEY

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Critically important to textbook writing: primary sources

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BACKGROUND�

Education

BA Biophysics, UC San Diego (1981)
MA, Ph.D. Astrophysics, CU-Boulder (1985)
Ph.D. Astrophysics, CU-Boulder (1987)

+ 2 key “outside” projects (and lots of college teaching) during that time:

Elem. school teaching (grades 2/3) +�“Our Future in Space” summer school (grades 4-9).

Creating Colorado Scale Model Solar System �(opened day before I received Ph.D.)

My undergraduate degree was in biophysics, but my interest in the cosmic perspective led me to switch to astrophysics for grad school. In addition, there were two other major projects that had a lot to do with how I’ve ended up doing what I do now: First, as an undergrad, I spent a lot of time teaching as an elementary school aid; I then started my own summer school for elementary and middle school kids. Second, I spent almost as much time in grad school working to create the Colorado Scale Model Solar System as I did working on my thesis. Note that these two projects are actually closely related: I first started building model solar systems with my elementary school students as a way of helping them overcome their misconceptions about the true scale of the universe. So when I started teaching at CU and realized that college students had the same misconceptions, I started the process of creating the CU model.

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CAREER CONNECTIONS�

CU taps me to create new course in “quantitative reasoning”

NASA taps me to create education program for NASA HQ Astrophysics Division (Washington, DC)

(2 years as “Visiting Senior Scientist”

turned out to be first such course in nation, leading to my first textbook (now in 8^th ed.)

Past 30-ish years:

Writing
Speaking
special projects…

Interestingly, the model solar system led directly to most everything I’ve done since. At CU, my work on the model got the attention of faculty who were developing a new core requirement in quantitative reasoning. They asked me to create and teach the course, and although I didn’t know it at the time I accepted, it was the first such course anywhere – which meant I had to write my own material for it – which led to my first published book, a textbook for quantitative reasoning courses, which is now in 8^th edition and is used at hundreds of colleges and universities…. Meanwhile, the CU model also caught the attention of the larger astronomy community, which led to me being hired to work for 2 years as a Visiting Senior Scientist at NASA Headquarters in Washington, DC. where I was tasked with creating a new education program for the Astrophysics division. … Together, these things led to everything I’ve now been doing for the past 30 or so years. I’ll tell you a bit more about this soon but first, I’d like to give you at least a brief introduction to the “cosmic perspective” that motivates me…

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OUR COSMIC ADDRESS

Photo from idsw.darksky.org

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PLANETS AND SUN TO SCALE� (SIZE ONLY)

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Colorado Scale Model Solar System �(Voyage Mark II)

Voyage — Washington DC

Note: Bring Voyage to your campus/community for ~$60K.

Voyage Scale Model Solar System

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THE MILKY WAY GALAXY

~ 100 billion stars (or solar systems or Earth-size planets)

How long would it take to count them?

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THE UNIVERSE

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We are not the center of the universe!

THE COSMIC PERSPECTIVE

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We are not the center of the universe!

(Pale Blue Dot Speech)

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CURRENT CAREER�

Motivations: �”Personal Mission Statement” �www.jeffreybennett.com/about

Major Current Projects:

Writing

Textbooks: Astronomy, Astrobiology, Math (QR), Statistics + FREE Online Middle School ESS Text

General Public/Educator books
Children’s science books

Speaking

School visits (usually free!)
Faculty workshops

Public talks

Scale Model Solar Systems
…

Human history becomes more and more a race between education and catastrophe.� — H. G. Wells, 1920

grade8science.com

These ideas are what motivate me in my current career. In fact, to help me stay focused, I long ago wrote a personal mission statement that helps guide my career choices. You can see it at this QR code, and if you’ve never written your own mission statement, I think you might find it to be a worthwhile exercise. Anyway, here’s a brief list of what I do today: I make my living primarily from my textbooks, which I now have in 4 subjects; please also note that I’ve posted an Earth & Space Science text for middle and high school freely online…. I also write books for the public and for kids. I do a lot of speaking [free visits]. I still help to spread scale model solar systems – we’ve now got more than a dozen Voyage models across the US, and a new opportunity will start soon. For these last three, I’ll show you a couple of more slides…

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Monday, April 8

Denver ~ 65%

start 11:28am

max 12:40pm

end 1:53pm

Don’t let your students be stuck inside!

FREE App

Please download

now

Book

QR Code for App�Web page�with links to app stores

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Safe Observing: Eclipse Glasses (best) or pinhole projection�(This is a page from my Totality book)

Eclipse Glasses-

Order form and link to reputable vendor list

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Imagine astronauts reading stories from space to children and families around the world, in an exciting new program that combines literature with science education...

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Story Time From Space�www.storytimefromspace.com

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Three Eclipse Videos from ISS�www.storytimefromspace.com/eclipse

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Pathway�to a Post-Global Warming Future

April 11 & 12, 7pm�Fiske Planetarium, CU-Boulder

Just published (Jan. 2024)

Live Talk:

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Children’s Science Titles

(Also Available in Spanish, Japanese)

Public/High School/College Titles

Free Middle/High School

Earth & Space Science�(grade8science.com)

free app:

And please come to my breakout sessions to learn more…

+ School Visit Program�A few openings left before eclipse � email me: jeff@bigkidscience.com

www.BigKidScience.com