How Can the Hubble Space Telescope Help Your Child to Learn About STEM?

How can a telescope that's 340 miles away from the Earth help your child to learn about science? Whether your child is all about outer space or just has a fleeting interest in STEM, take a look at how the Hubble Space Telescope can engage and educate students of all ages.

New Vocabulary

Younger children who are new to STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Math) may have a limited science and technology vocabulary. If you have a preschooler, kindergartner, or child in the early elementary years, the Hubble Space Telescope, its uses, and the concepts that surround what it does can help your child to learn, understand, and use new words.

What types of words can the Hubble Space Telescope help your young learner to explore? While dozens of possibilities exist, the top categories include:

Telescope words. These vocabulary picks include words that directly relate to the Hubble Space Telescope and telescopes in general — such as the parts of the telescope. Spectroscopy words. From the word spectrum to the rainbow of colors it includes, your child can learn new vocabulary such as wavelength or prism. Space words. What does the Hubble Space Telescope look at? Vocabulary words your child can delve deep into in this category include galaxy, star, nebula, and more. Are you planning to visit the Hubble Space Telescope Exhibit? Pre-visit vocabulary pre-work can make the exhibit more interesting and accessible to your child. Even though this type of wordy preparation is perfect before your family's visit, you can continue to use the words with your child regularly as they learn new science concepts in school, at home, or anywhere else.

New Concepts

Each of the new Hubble Space Telescope–related words your child learns ties to a new concept. This makes the next step in your child's education learning about how the telescope works and what it can view. While younger children (in kindergarten and under) may need simplified versions of the concepts, older students can transition from vocabulary lists to more of a conceptual thought process.

Again, if you have plans to view the Hubble Space Telescope exhibit, this is the prime time to illustrate the concepts at hand. Your child can take what they learn in books, online, or through discussions and see it in action. Even though they can't visit the actual space telescope, a museum trip is the next best thing.

After the museum visit, your child can continue to explore Hubble Space Telescope–related concepts and even translate them into other areas of science and technology education. These include anything from planetary science to physics and beyond.

New History

While the history of the Hubble Space Telescope isn't new, it is new to your child. If your young student doesn't know what the Hubble Space Telescope is or only knows that it's a telescope in space, you have the ideal opportunity to help them to learn about this awe-inspiring piece of technology.

Introduce the telescope to your child with a brief history of its namesake, Edwin Hubble. Don't worry if you aren't familiar with the telescope's history. Plenty of resources are available in libraries and online to help you and your child.

With their new vocabulary and new concepts, your child has a solid starting point to better understand the history of the telescope. If they need a concrete way to explore the telescope, what it does, and how it came to be, a visit to the Hubble Space Telescope exhibit can help.

Is your child ready to learn about the Hubble Space Telescope from the experts? The Hubble Space Telescope Exhibit is an easy way to bring out-of-this-world concepts to your young student's level. Visit the Aerospace Museum of California for more information.