Perspective Shift Spurs PhD Student to Teach Middle Schoolers Astronomy and Physics
From a young age, Sabrina DeSoto had a crystal-clear view of how a physicist should be: perfect at math, always logical and 100% sure of everything.
āInitially, I liked the idea of physics because I thought that the answer is always here, itās right and I can prove things. I thought it was exact, and it would make me sound really smart. I was really excited about that,ā says DeSoto, now a PhD student in the . āAs Iāve come into grad school, Iāve learned that itās anything but exact. Weāve done the same things over and over to make the best approximations we can, but itās definitely not exact.ā
While she says she had excellent science teachers growing up, the higher DeSoto climbs, the more she knowsāand the more she realizes she doesnāt know. Now, she wants to make sure young kids with an interest in science are aware they donāt have to be a genius-level mathematician or certain of what theyāre doing at every moment to build a career in science. There was a moment deep in DeSotoās studies where she noticed she was starting to struggle with the math, a new phenomenon for her. That reframed her views on science, education and whatās needed to succeed the field.
With that in mind, DeSoto started an after-school astronomy club at Prairie Middle School in Aurora, working with fellow students Rachel Johnson, Emma Lieb and Christopher Pickens to show future physicists that only two skills are needed: persistence and passion.
āWhat got me into this field in the first place was that I was very good at math and physics,ā DeSoto says. āI had that support from teachers telling me, āYouāre smart and you should go be an engineer.ā Thatās fine and thatās what I thought the subject was, too, just people proving that theyāre smart. But now that Iām in the field, I see that itās not exact, and you donāt need to be a genius in math or science. Itās a lot of creativity and being stubborn. Thatās why I wanted to step back and think about who weāre encouraging to get into the field.ā
SPACEāwhich stands for student physics and astronomy club for everyoneāfocuses on lower-case space, which DeSoto says is āthe wow factor that gets kids inā before they sprinkle in broad concepts of physics.
Space is one of scienceās trickiest laboratories, offering a rare glimpse through time of massive events on a cosmic scale. Astrophysicists donāt have the advantage of working in a lab where results can be closely observed or physically handled. DeSoto works with professor and astronomer , focusing on exploding stars. That research coalesced into a recent presentation at the 241st meeting of the American Astronomical Society, which DeSoto says is one of the largest astronomy-focused gatherings in North America. She shared her research on supernova 2012au, showcasing animations she created to highlight the behavior of light around exploding stars, something that adds an extra layer of interpretation.
āWeāre always making figures and plots to figure out what weāre doing,ā she says. āBut I got to make some cool animations to show people this niche field that weāre working in. I think some people were wowed by it, and I really like that it shows how we can present this information that others might overlook in a really interesting way.ā
As for whatās next, DeSoto says she initially thought sheād work in the space exploration industry for a large company. But after working with middle schoolers, her future path might have changed.
āIāve gotten pretty interested in working with these kids. Iām thinking now that Iād be more than happy to teach high school.ā