Astronomy Buff

An Easy Way to Earn Extra Money Doing Astronomy Presentations

by Tony on January 15th, 2007

It is extremely easy to earn some extra money using what you know about the night sky. Many amateur and professional astronomers go to schools with their telescopes for free to talk about the stars or what’s up in the sky, I’ve done this countless times myself. There is nothing wrong, however, with earning a little extra money on the side as an astronomy presenter. In fact, I used these techniques to support my family for an entire year while I was in college (I got my degree rather late in life and already had a family).

In the early 1990’s I developed a large repertoire of talks and demonstrations that I would take to schools. At first, I did them all for free, just for the love of teaching kids about space and astronomy. I had to stop doing it though, when it became apparent that I needed money to pay the bills, and I went out to find a job.

One day, a teacher had called and asked if I would come to her school and do another talk about the solar system, to help reinforce a unit she was teaching on the planets. I told her I couldn’t do it, because I was trying to find a job. That’s when she told me that they could probably pay me a small amount from a PTO fund they had for enrichment. She offered me $30.00 for a one class period talk.

Well, this gave me an idea: if there were other schools that had this kind of fund, perhaps I could advertise and see if I could do this on a part-time basis, with the main intent being accumulating some extra cash.

I made a flyer and dropped it off at every elementary and middle school I in my area. Within weeks, the phone calls started coming in, and I was booking about 2-3 presentations per day for an average of about 4 days a week. It was adding up, so much so that I was able to do this as a job while I went to college.

I thought that some of you might like to know how I did it and how you could do it today if you wanted to. It’s a very gratifying way to earn money and you’d be providing much needed help in the public schools seriously lacking science curriculum.

I want to emphasize that you don’t need a telescope to do this, although it helps. You also don’t need any equipment like star projectors, solar system or rocket models or any of that stuff. All you need is some excitement, knowledge about the universe we live in and the willingness to get up in front of a classroom.

Technorati Tags: astronomy, astronomy education, astronomy video

The idea couldn’t be simpler: develop some basic talks about different aspects of the night sky (I’ll give you a list of ideas in a moment). If you have a laptop, make some powerpoint presentations with lots and lots of NASA pictures and amateur astrophotos (with their permission of course). Then, start advertising to schools and PTO’s (Parent-Teacher Organizations) what you have.

You WILL get a response. This is a desperately needed service. The schools (at least in the United States), have almost no resources to teach a good astronomy curriculum. Your primary market should be elementary and middle schools since high schools have a pretty set way of doing things and they also have access to things like planetaria and they take more field trips.

Now, what about talks? When I was doing this I had developed about 20-25 different talks on different subjects in astronomy. This was also before laptops and projectors were so prevalent, so I put together slide shows from a vast library I had. Now all you need are NASA images and a laptop. You probably won’t need a projector because many schools have them now.

If I were doing it today, here are some presentations I would develop:

• Latest findings from the Cassini spacecraft. This could be standalone or part of a larger talk on Saturn.
• A general solar system presentation discussing all the planets. I’d also design a special bit about Pluto not being considered a planet anymore, that would generate a lot of discussion among the kids.
• A Mars presentation showing the latest data from the myriad missions on Mars right now. Include photos from the Spirit and Opportunity rovers and the Mars Global Surveyor.
• The beginning of the universe. I’d show the Hubble Deep field and talk about what it means. I’d also include my Hubble Deep Field video I made on YouTube. You’re free to use it yourself if you’d like. You can download it here.
• Space travel. Here I’d talk a lot about the upcoming moon/mars initiatives from NASA. They have a lot of animations and images at NASA’s Constellation Mission Page. If you want, you could include a model rocket launch outside if the weather permits. You’ll probably need the principal’s permission too.
• Try to keep up to date on astronomy news. Things like eclipses, comets and meteor showers offer you a good chance for repeat customers because you’ll be able to provide a kind of Special Report presentation.
• Stars and Galaxies. Here you could present the different types of stars, their life cycles and how they will die. This is a source of intense interest, especially the how they will die part. Kids love that.
• Black Holes. This is one of the most popular subjects for kids (and adults for that matter).
• The Apollo space program. I add this one because WAY too many people think we never went to the moon and that sickens me. There are great resources at The Apollo Lunar Surface Journal and many other NASA links. Just do a search at the NASA site.
• A solar talk. Here I’d discuss things like solar flares, coronal mass ejections and geoeffective storms. This is a good way to link astronomy to our everyday lives.
• Life in the universe talk. Discuss how possible it is to find life. Do a walk-through of the Drake Equation. It’s a simple equation that kids in middle school should be able to understand. I also made a life in the universe video on YouTube. You can download it here.

These are just some samples. There’s no limit to what you can talk about. The best thing about astronomy is that it ignites the kids like no other subject.

Some thoughts on presentation style

The best way to get the kids engaged is to start a discussion. Don’t just stand up in front of the class or behind the computer showing slides. Start off by asking questions and get them to talk about what they already know, this is the best way to get them interested. Questions l like “Who knows how our Sun is going to die?”, “How old is the universe?”, “How many of you know when we landed on the moon?”, “What is a black hole?” and “How many planets are in our solar system?” are all great conversation starters. It’s really important to engage the kids, don’t talk at them.

Have fun. The more you are enjoying yourself, the more the kids will get into it. I try to be funny as often as I can as well, but that’s not for everyone.

Bring LOTS of pictures and animations. NASA images and animations are great attention-getters and they are in the public domain so long as you credit NASA with the photo. I try to average 1 image every 30 seconds or so, that’s a lot.

Use ESA’s Multimedia site

This is the best source of astronomy animations I have ever seen. They have hundreds of really cool animations ready for you to use. They also have a great number of images, but it’s the animations I like the best. Here is the ESA Multimedia Site.

Use NASA’s Free Curricula

NASA has spent a lot of money providing teaching materials to use in the classroom. There is a ‘For Educators’ link on almost every mission page. Make sure to use those. Many times the teachers won’t use them because of time constraints or lack of knowledge.

Telescopes and Equipment

If you really get into this, you may want to start using telescopes and other equipment. I actually got to the point where I purchased a $10,000 Starlab Portable Planetarium which was totally amazing. I had a lot of fun with that. I charged $175.00 per day and I usually set it up in the gym. Man, the kids loved that. They are probably more than $10,000 now, but they also sport really cool video projectors so the possibilities for shows are endless.

I also used my telescopes, especially when there was an eclipse or if I was doing a Sun talk. I could show the kids sunspots and let them draw them on a piece of paper.

These are just some ideas to get you started. Leave some comments or questions if you want further information and I’ll be happy to help. The more people spreading the word, the better.

Share This

Related Stories

There’s Good Money in Astronomy
How the Kepler Mission Can Get All the Money It’ll Ever Need
Great Introductory Astronomy Course is Now on Sale
Kepler Mission Will Launch In Spite of Itself
Should You Major in Physics or Astronomy?

POSTED IN: astronomy education