Over on the Bad Astronomy site we were talking about women in science and technology and the conversation got around to classroom experiences. It prompted me to tell a story about a teacher who treated a female student quite poorly during one of my planetarium lectures and how I felt about seeing this budding little astronomer ridiculed and made fun of by an adult who should have known better. The little girl asked a question about something I’d said in my lecture and as I prepared to answer, the teacher interrupted and said, “Don’t ask stupid questions.”

Now, not only was the question NOT stupid, but the teacher was an ass for butting in. Particularly because right after that, a little boy waved his hand and blurted out what really WAS a dumb question calculated to get his friends laughing, and the teacher just sat there like a stump. Sexism or stupidity? I’ve never quite figured it out, but I do know that when it comes to serious questions about astronomy and space science, there’s no such thing as a stupid question. And kids are capable of asking some really good, incisive ones!

So, how do we encourage them to ask? I used to keep the lights down low and tell them they could ask me in the dark because I couldn’t see them! That always got a laugh, but it also prompted questions about the size of the universe and the number of other planets out there, and how the Big Bang got started, and so on. Those were the successful Q&A sessions!

Asking questions is how we get started on the long road to understanding the cosmos. If astronomers didn’t ask things like, “Gee I wonder why that star does that?” or “What’s that distant galaxy doing” or “How many galaxies are there and how many stars do they have?” we’d never get anywhere in understanding why things are the way they are. So, next time you’re out there gazing at the stars (with or without kids), turn on that inner kid in yourself and let him/her ask all the questions they want! You might not get all the answers you want, but I guarantee, you won’t be bored!