Dr. Jeff's Blog on the Universe

 

 

CONFERENCE ADDRESSES

 

Banquet Speaker, NJ Science Convention, Somerset, NJ, 2008

Informative! Energetic! Exemplary!
Just a few of the adjectives that describe Dr. Goldstein and his presentation at our recent NJ Science Convention. He was one of the best banquet speakers we have had in our 32-year history.

—Sandra S. Buleza

   Executive Co-chair, NJ Science Convention

 

 

Featured Speaker, NSTA Regional Convention, Salt Lake City, 2001

In his riveting presentation, which elicited many an “oooh” and “aaah” from the audience, Goldstein demonstrated how teachers can convey the scope and majesty of our universe through the use of models, including objects as simple as two balls and a piece of string. He also impressed upon the audience the importance of explaining science in terms that students could understand. For example, did you know that if you collected a grain of stand for every star in the known universe, you would be able to form a beach [1 meter deep] the size of Colorado?

—Dan Murphy, NSTA WebNews Digest

NOTABLE CONFERENCE KEYNOTE ADDRESSES

• Annual State Science Teachers Association Conferences: Arizona, Washington State,

  Virginia, Kansas, Georgia, Maryland, New Jersey

• Society of Research Administrators: Nat’l Convention; and Western, Northeast,

  and Mid-west Conferences 

• American Urological Association Conference, Monterey, CA

 

 

NOTABLE CONFERENCE FEATURED PRESENTATIONS 
• Banquet Speaker, requested by the Hon. Dick Gephardt, Goldman Sachs Chief Investment

  Officer’s Conference, Pebble Beach, CA  Download Talk Description

• National Science Teachers Assoc. (NSTA) Regional Conferences: Salt Lake City,

  Milwaukee, Baltimore, Phoenix

• Shell Science Seminar, NSTA National Conference, St. Louis, MO
• Maryland Association of Science Teachers Conference
• Connecticut  Science Supervisors Association
• South Carolina Science Council 30th Annual Conference
• Astronomical  Soc. of the Pacific Conference, Santa Clara, CA

 

 

 

ATTENDEES AT WORKSHOPS FOR EDUCATORS

What did you like about the workshop?

 

• Dr. Jeff Goldstein—his enthusiasm for science—his knowledge of the material.  

  Voyage notebook full of stuff for the classroom.

 

• Dr. Jeff  was excellent—inspiring, motivating, full of passion, knowledgeable.

 

• Curriculum relevance and inquiry approach.

 

• Lessons are well written and will be very useful.

—Full Day Workshop for Master Science Teachers on the Voyage Lessons

   Voyage Exhibition Opening in Kansas City, MO, October 2008

 

   Download KC Workshop Assessment Report

 

 

 

What did you like about the workshop?

 

• I thoroughly enjoyed this training!!!

• Excellent presenter with a vibrant manner to teach teachers.

• As expected—fantastic!  A+

• One of the best presenters I have heard in a long time. Jeff really has a handle on the

  education system in America, in addition to his vast knowledge in space science.

• Jeff was awesome!  Great lessons with great planning already done for  me.

• The way the presenter made connections of familiar knowledge to new knowledge.

• Dr. Jeff was totally fab.  His excitement is a force.

• The material was presented in a manner where it could be directly conveyed back to

  ALL students.

 

—Full Day Workshop for Master Science Teachers on Voyage Lessons

   Voyage Exhibition Opening in Houston, TX, November 2008

    Download Houston Workshop Assessment Report

 

 

 

What did you like about the workshop?

• It made me think of ways in which I can use inquiry with my students—not just with

  solar system activities.

• Very inspirational!

• I loved Jeff’s enthusiasm and his ability to make me believe I can do this!

 

—2-Hour Workshop

   Hoosier Association of Science Teachers 2006 Annual Convention

 

ATTENDEES AT PRESENTATIONS FOR FAMILIES AND THE PUBLIC

 

Jeff, thank you so much for the great evening last night. I wanted to share this with you ‚ I brought in my car a girl and her mom who live off of North Capitol Street. The mom was going to bring her daughter, take our buses to and from the museum then take two city buses to get home at 9:30 at night. On the way home the mom said it was the best evening she had ever spent. Her daughter was equally excited and talked about being a scientist. I so wish DCPS [District of Columbia Public Schools] would take more advantage. These are the types of families you are hoping to reach and inspire. Many of the families from Truesdell have never done anything like that so again, many thanks.

—Katherine Latterner, Principal of Fillmore Arts Center

   District of Columbia Public Schools

   coordinates an annual Family Evening at the National Air and Space Museum

   for 9 schools 

 

 

Dr. Jeff….as usual….you were terrific. You had the kids/families answering your questions…..getting excited about science, space and learning. Your messages about the learning process were right on….. I hope you will carry that message forward above the school level to help teachers get across what “learning does sound like….”  Our teachers totally agreed with you…..!

—Lory Monaco-Stevenson – Director Project ExCELLS

   Fort Belvoir Elementary School, Fairfax, VA

  

 

 

As a parent passionate about experiential learning and the power of learning with others, the evening filled my heart (and mind) with even more hope. Our 44th President has encouraged us quiet and abundantly creative people to come out again and speak up, speak the truth. Your images brought tears to my eyes as I remembered the Moon Walk, watching with 26 of my closest cousins, all under the age of 10, from a beach house in SC. Nothing was lost on my soon to be 13 year old either, and by the end of the evening you had him out there, open and seeing the possibilities. 

—Parent 

 

 

 

Jeff really inspired me. I really wasn’t interested in science, now I’m considering it as a favorite class.

—Student

 

 

Jeff’s enthusiasm gave us (parents) a taste for the “wow” that comes from new realization and discovery, and the difference an inspired teacher, and in this case an astrophysicist, can make. I also thoroughly believe in the mission to educate families so they can share and learn together.

—Parent

 

 

Dear Jeff Goldstein,

The family night at the Air and Space Museum for 4 schools (I believe) in the DC area was taught and explained in such a fun and interesting way that one had to listen and learn (I even started taking notes…). Jeff, you were so engaged and made us all want to know more. Your presentation amazed everybody in the theater by your way of talking about the hemisphere; the planets, the Milky Way, stars and the whole solar system. You even made the students become part of it.

 

DO IT AGAIN SOON. Every single kid and student was listening to the seminar and learning so much in a pretty short time actually!!! I would not be surprised if a lot of us went back home with a feeling that we wanted to learn more in order to internalize all the comparisons that you gave us which gave us a clear sense of how big and huge some planets and stars are.

 —Teacher (and mother of Johanne, a 4th grade student who loved this special evening)

 

 

I found the speaker last night to be very inspirational and the pictures and 3D movie awed me and my 9-year old daughter.  On a personal note, it reminded me of the sense of wonder and technological ambition of my father (an engineer who worked with NASA for some time) and his generation who saw so very much accomplished in the 50’s and 60’s. I hope we can instill this in our children, and I think last night’s event played an important role in this. I expect we will have many family dinner conversations around both the substance and spirit of the evening.

—Parent

 

 

Science is really cool to me now.

—Student

 

 

You have a gift for sharing your love, excitement, and enthusiasm for science and engineering with kids.  [I really appreciate you including engineers — so often we’re overlooked by the “real” scientists :)]  I really think one of the science nights could be the thing that inspires them to become a scientist or engineer. For me, it was my second grade experiment where we put food coloring in water and added celery to see the celery take up the color with the water. I am convinced that for some of the kids fortunate enough to participate in a family science night, that will be the sentinel event that sets them on their lifelong journey.

 

Again, thanks so much. We all enjoyed it greatly. Isabella, my daughter, said the most amazing thing to her about the evening was the thin shell of clouds on the earth.

—Parent and Engineer

 

 

I want to be an astrophysicist now thanks to the doctor who talked to us.

—Student

 

 

 

It made me notice that being a scientist is cool.

—Student

 

 

My [5^th grade] son Liam and I attended the Family Science Night last evening and walked away richer for the experience. It was wonderful to watch my son enthralled with the enthusiasm you so obviously feel for our place in the universe. It’s good for children and adults alike to remember that knowledge is a journey that never ends. Thank you, again, for including our family.

—Parent

 

 

 

The presentation by Jeff Goldstein was absolutely fabulous. He was able to take information that many children find daunting and difficult and intimidating, and speak about it in terms that they could completely understand and enjoy. That he was able to hold a large group of middle schoolers spellbound for his entire speech was indicative of his dynamism as a speaker. 

 

And really, the adults were just as fascinated. When he first came out to speak and said “My name is Jeff Goldstein and I am an astrophysicist” many kids and adults alike may have inwardly groaned, expecting two hours of complicated physics formulas and jargon. That couldn’t have been further from the truth. My husband, son, and daughter each told me individually how the presentation made them really think about the universe in depth in a way they never had before, and it also facilitated several really interesting family discussions – at the dinner table, in the car on the way to school… we all loved it and were so grateful to be able to participate.

—Parent

 

 

Do you think the adults that came with you liked the Family Science Night program?

• My daddy REALLY liked it. Because that was all he talked about on the way home.

• Yes.  My dad went wooooooooooow!!!!!

• Yes because my parents smiled like they never smiled before in a long time.

—Students attending an evening presentation at the National Air and Space Museum

 

 

Last night, I attended your presentation at the Smithsonian with my children. It really is amazing how much we learn as parents while being parents. You presented the information very well. You managed to speak to several levels of understanding—simultaneously—so that we all learned.

 

I enjoyed how you made clear the idea that we are only bound by our minds. We often only believe what we can see, touch, or feel. Adopting this mindset limits exploration and eventual discovery.

 

Perspective. I think that’s the most salient idea I walked away with last night. My relationship to the universe. My world that is 6 million times my size is the size of a pinhead next to the sun. A pinhead! I’m not even sure what that makes me in relation to the universe yet undiscovered.

 

Undoubtedly, the exploration of space will add new technologies and understanding of how our world is formed–gases, geology, time. However, I believe that the greatest discovery the majesty of the universe will teach us is humility here on earth.

 

In doing so, we realize that we do not have the right to limit our potential in the classroom, boardroom, or laboratory. With the proper perspective, we would find it a waste of time to pursue unworthy and time consuming agendas, like hatred and bigotry. By understanding our infinitesimal place among the stars we would conclude that we simply do not have the time when there is soooo much more to discover out there!

 

Thank you Jeff for reminding me of what it was like to be a boy with an unlimited imagination, gazing upward with excitement, beyond the limitations of what is known.   

 

You are doing profound work, Jeff. Frankly, it’s not a compliment. It is a reminder. And I’m not even thinking about the new science technologies you are developing. I’m talking about the legacy of learning and discovery you are leaving as a starry-eyed, passionate educator.

You, my friend, created a ripple in many ponds last night. You infected young minds with the incurable contagion to explore. It was your energy. Your passion. Your journey among the stars. Thank you for the ride.

—Parent