There probably isn’t a more fascinating topic than space, which introduces children to the world of celestial bodies, planets, stars, the Milky Way, galaxies, the Big Bang, black holes, stardust and, of course, rockets that fly to space.

This is why Savremena’s little ones were delighted to partake in the interdisciplinary project A Space Odyssey, where they diligently explored the secrets of the universe and designed mini science projects.

By studying a series of phenomena related to the universe, the students embarked on a long and interesting journey full of new knowledge, in order to begin to discover the often mysterious complexity of the world around us. In addition, they were presented with a plethora of exact scientific indicators that we have managed to master our part of the universe.

THE UNIVERSE IS AN ETERNAL INSPIRATION AND A WELL OF INTERESTING SCIENCE

Universe, cosmos, space – these are all names given to the infinite vastness that surrounds us. And to understand the origin and functioning of the universe, it is mostly necessary to go back more than 13 billion years and revise the story of the Big Bang.

This fascinating beginning of life is the greatest enigma faced by science, and it poses the ultimate challenge for astronomers. Understanding the complexity of the universe is as elusive as understanding the complexity of the human soul.

However, it is great and magnificent how easily and naturally children understand the topic of the universe. They have no problem remembering and understanding the function of meteors, comets, planetoids, satellites, dark matter and neutron stars. And when they are given a “difficult” task to write a mini scientific paper about an interesting planet in the Milky Way – they do it not only with excitement but also with incredible precision and will.

A SPACE ODYSSEY OR WHAT IT’S LIKE TO LIVE ON A DIFFERENT PLANET

The interdisciplinary project A Space Odyssey was created as an idea to encourage gifted students to do additional work and to express their creativity through an interesting blend of music and astronomy. The geographical knowledge that the students acquired about the planets of the solar system, together with musical inspiration, gave us works that tell us what life would look like on one of the planets.

Through different ways, the students showed how they understood and perceived this topic, proving that science and art are an inseparable part of their education and life in general.

Student Maša Pašić (V-2) gave an interactive presentation about Mars. She presented interesting facts about this fascinating place which many scientists call our future habitat. She also presented her conclusions about what moving to Mars would mean, whether it would be good or not in a general sense, what it would mean for health, and whether various traditions and crafts would be forgotten forever.

Would our stay on Mars necessarily mean changing our diet? Masha’s paper entitled Life on Mars was accompanied by this interesting video.

Sva ova pitanja pokazatelj su ozbiljnosti u razmišljanju, koja se zapravo rađa iz kreativne igre. A podstrek za promatranje baš u tom smeru Maši je dala muzika. Naime, slušajući kompoziciju Gustava Holsta pod nazivom „Planete”, dobila je inspiraciju, ali očigledno i razne odgovore na pitanja koja je postavljala samoj sebi, ali svojim drugarima, kroz kreativno osmišljenu PowerPoint prezentaciju.

Učenik Mateja Baketarić (V-1) razmišljao je iz sasvim drugog ugla u svojoj prezentaciji. Njegova inspiracija bila je planeta Venera. On nije počeo od muzike, već od istraživanja same planete. Sve što je naučio i istražio u svom radu krunisao je pesmom na engleskom jeziku. Tu sjajnu pesmu, koja i sjajno zvuči u pratnji muzičkih instrumenata, prenosimo u celosti:

Venus – A Space Odyssey

The goddess of prettiness so shiny and bright
Shine bright in the lonely night

Now a boiling toxic planet and the thermometer has reached the bar
We like to call it the north star

Once filled with life, once a beautiful place
So smooth and grace
But now…
Like hell in space

To us an identical twin but know wrecked
By the runaway greenhouse effect

Once a beautiful place
Now a planet filled with acid rain
Hit by the greenhouse bane x2

I ostali učenički radovi, pod mentorstvom nastavnice geografije Nevene Matejić i nastavnika muzičke kulture Miloša Petrovića, pokazali su da je stepen kreativnosti savremenih osnovaca na zavidnom nivou i da zapravo ne postoji lestvica do koje oni ne mogu da se uspenju.

Najvažniji ishod ovog malog istraživačkog projekta (baziranog na korelaciji predmeta muzika–astronomija) u kojem su, kako sami ističu, uživali, jeste njihovo uzbuđenje – nastalo usled jednog novog otkrića, sigurnost koju stiču usled uspešne prezentacije i nova znanja koja će poneti na put celoživotnog učenja.