Love of Learning

Today's lesson for elementary children allowed them to encounter our fifth Unitarian Universalist Source of Beliefs, which "...counsels us to heed the guidance of reason and the results of science..."

Cecilia Payne was the first woman to be awarded a PhD in physics and astronomy, and the first person to be given the title "astronomer".  Her story formed the basis of today's lesson, not only of the awe and wonder we experience in the discoveries of science, but in human perseverance to overcome injustice as well.  An extraordinarily gifted and talented academic whose love of learning continued throughout her lifetime, Payne (a British Unitarian) completed a rigorous field of study in both physics and astronomy at Cambridge University in London.  When it came time for her to graduate, however, she was refused a degree because she was a woman.  Harvard University in the United States had just begun a graduate program in astronomy, and Payne came to the department's attention.  So enamoured were they with her intellect and passion for the field that they awarded her a fellowship and paid for her to come to the United States.  During her studies at Harvard, Payne wrote one of the most extraordinary theses in the field (the discovery that stars are composed primarily of hydrogen), and it still stands as one of the most-cited pieces of research and investigation ever conducted in physics and astronomy. 

Children explored some basic concepts of science such as gravity, and pondered the reaction of primitive people to "magical" experiences such as a spinning disk.  They heard the story of astronomer Cecilia Payne and her love for the stars, and they crafted their own "telescopes" through which they viewed constellations they made.  Finally, they were charged with developing an intense love of learning, such as Cecilia Payne carried with her throughout her life.

Children learned that scientific investigation of falling objects or the colors of sunsets or the twinkling mystery of stars so far away does not reduce their beauty or mystery, but rather helps us to understand our world.  And in that understanding comes an even greater sense of awe and wonder of the universe we are a part of.