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What Objects To Focus On For School Astronomy?
IceDiver writes "I am a teacher in a small rural school. My Grade 9 students are doing a unit on astronomy this spring. I have access to a 4" telescope, and would like to give my students a chance to use it. We will probably only be able to attempt observations on a couple of nights because of weather and time restrictions. I am as new to telescope use as my students, so I have no idea what objects would look good through a 4" lens. What observations should I attempt to have my students make? In other words, how can I make best use of my limited equipment and time to give my students the best experience possible?"
American kids don't care about stuff like this, and even if they did, they'd never be able to find gainful employment in it when they finish college. Teach them skills which will be more useful for their future careers. Here's a range of examples for different kids:
1) for the dumb kids, teach them how to flip burgers and operate deep fryers.
2) for the middle-intelligence kids, teach them how to set up scams, because that'll be a very important industry in the future of America. Examples include loan-modification scams, where you get people to pay you $3000 to "attempt" to work with their lender to modify their loan, but you never actually do anything and point to the small-print disclaimer in the contract saying results are not guaranteed.
3) for the smart kids, teach them about law, so they can become lawyers. We can never have too many of those in this country, especially with all the scammers. Victims need lawyers to sue the scammers, and scammers need lawyers to help them shield their personal assets from lawsuits and successfully funnel money from the scam-business to their personal bank accounts.