Librarians and after-school education providers participating in the Lunar and Planetary Institute’s Explore! space science program construct model spines from sponges and wooden spools. They submerged them in water to mimic the expansion of the spinal column experienced by astronauts in space. Photo by the Lunar and Planetary Institute.

Most people think of libraries as fairly quiet reading and online research havens. But students, teachers, and librarians participating in a space and planetary science program called Explore! are anything but silent. They might be playing Ice Bingo, building model volcanoes, or singing songs about NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) mission to the Moon.

“My favorite thank-you note from one of my students said simply, ‘Thank you for letting us blow stuff up,’ ” remarked a Pennsylvania librarian who participates in Explore!

Explore! was developed in 1998 by the Lunar and Planetary Institute (LPI), a research institute in Houston, Texas, to bring space science resources into libraries. Seeking to educate children about space science, LPI collaborated with the State Library of Louisiana to design an after-school program for libraries and other informal education venues. “Librarians play a major role in the development process,” says Keliann LaConte, education specialist at LPI and Explore! program coordinator.

With funding from the National Science Foundation (NSF), eight modules of activities and resources were developed for children in grades 3–8, and 71 librarians in Louisiana, Texas, Illinois, and South Carolina were trained to use the program and provided with materials. Funding from NASA has enabled LaConte and the LPI team to enhance the Explore! modules and train librarians and after-school program providers in many more states. Currently more than 500 Explore! trainers are replicating the program with more than 30,000 children nationwide. (Trainers typically conduct three programs annually with 20 children each.)

“We welcome other educators as well,” says LaConte, noting classroom teachers occasionally attend training workshops. “We love it when librarians and teachers are able to work together,” she says. The program’s flexibility allows librarians to invite local planetariums, museums, scientists, and NASA’s Solar System Ambassadors to attend Explore! events and share their knowledge and resources with children. Librarians are “not expected to suddenly be space science experts,” assures LaConte.

LPI offers Explore! in partnership with state libraries, and their staff are encouraged to recruit librarians who serve underrepresented populations, such as rural families, or who work in areas located far from a science center, explains LaConte. Explore! wants to “equip librarians to meet that need,” she says.

Training workshops are held when grant funding is available for them, according to LaConte. Attendees are encouraged to offer their own training sessions to help colleagues and teachers use the program in their own classrooms, she adds.

The program features six theme-based topics with accompanying hands-on activities:

• Explore! Ice Worlds!
• Mars: Inside and Out!
• Health in Space
• To the Moon and Beyond!
• Beyond Earth
• Solar System

The topics can be incorporated in any program involving children, such as summer sessions, festivals, science days, and family events. Explore! has extensions that allow younger and older children to investigate the topic. Each topic offers students and their families opportunities to continue learning through reading and online exploration.

Activities are designed to be easy to do, use readily available materials, and require minimal preparation time. They vary in length from 30 minutes to two hours; many can be adapted to fit the time available. Because Explore! materials tend to be inexpensive, children are often able to take home their creations and share what they learned with their families, LaConte points out.

“Our young patrons so look forward to our Family Space Days and the [Explore!] activities we incorporate into our summer reading program,” says Allison Long, a librarian at the Haltom City Public Library in Haltom City, Texas. She says she has held Explore! sessions at schools “as a special event” during the “normal science class period,” and at parks for children who don’t live near the library.

Long says Explore! inspires children to “get all excited about space exploration,” and she is convinced “they’re going to do better in school” because “everything [in Explore!] is hands-on. A child can learn so much hands-on.” While noting her library’s circulation numbers increase on Explore! days, she adds, “It’s not just us who are benefitting, it’s the entire community that is benefitting” because the program is helping to produce future astronauts, engineers, and other “educated workers” sought by local businesses.

Online Resources

LPI staff recently presented a series of 25 webcasts connected with the Explore! Ice Worlds! topic. The program’s website at www.lpi.usra.edu/explore provides free hands-on activities and supporting resources such as PowerPoint presentations and recommended books and online resources.

“We’ll continue to update these activities and even create new modules for the website,” says LaConte. Updates reflect recent developments in Earth and space science. She says two modules being developed will focus on giant planets and the origin and formation of the Moon. When complete, new training workshops and webcasts will be available.

Librarians and educators at schools blocking social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter will be grateful for the conversations they can have on the Explore! website’s new discussion boards, says LaConte. She and LPI colleagues moderate them and update them daily with resources, NASA mission and science news, and information on planning children’s programs. While commenting is restricted to those trained to use Explore!, anyone can read the postings and download materials.