Bilingual Book on Astronomy Needs Your Votes

As parents, our children’s future rests mainly on our shoulders. We are their greatest source of support, inspiration, and guidance. It is up to us to fight for their educational rights and to provide them with opportunities to explore their world (and beyond!) so that they may discover where their future lies.

Snapshots of the Universe/Instantáneas del universo is a bilingual art book on astronomy for children. It was created last year by Dark Skies, Bright Kids (DSBK), a program that enhances science education for elementary kids. Led by astronomer Kelsey Johnson from the University of Virginia, this program is mostly run by student volunteers.

Each week, these volunteers meet at rural elementary schools to talk with the children about the universe and run lessons based on hands-on activities. Every other week on Friday nights, the volunteers set up telescopes at the school and encourage family stargazing.

Many of the schools in the area have a large Hispanic population, and while reaching out to a third grader, student volunteer Laura Jackson (a Spanish major with a minor in astronomy) got creative and produced a number of paintings of the objects found in our solar system. For the child’s benefit, Jackson labeled each one in English and Spanish.

An instant hit with the young students and their teachers, DSBK decided to develop the idea further by adding more text and compiling the paintings in a book format. Many other University students have contributed their talents, and native speakers from Chile, Mexico, and Spain have reviewed the text for accuracy.

Because DSBK feels very strongly about keeping information freely available to promote scientific literacy, they hope to have a free digital copy of Snapshots of the Universe/Instantáneas del universo available on their site by the end of the year. And they have plans to translate the book into other languages.

But DSBK also wants to place a free English/Spanish copy of the book in 6,750 third grade classrooms throughout Virginia, and an additional 1,250 in every one of the state’s public elementary school libraries. And to make this dream a reality, Kelsey Johnson, the program’s leader, is applying for a $25,000 grant from the Pepsi Refresh educational grant program.

We can help! Everyday between now and the end of September, you can vote for DSBK’s bilingual book project. (The Pepsi Refresh grant allows the public to vote for their favorite project.) If you’d like to learn more about the Dark Skies, Bright Kids program, stop by their website.