Hundreds of students sat on the field of Cotton Bowl Stadium during the solar eclipse, and teachers hope the interest generated Monday will extend back into schools.
Science Teachers Association of Texas worked with NASA, NOAA and the National Science Foundation to present students with a daylong festival at the Cotton Bowl.
"Our tagline at STAT is we are inspiring the discovery of the world through science," says STAT President Kenric Davies.
The event included music and games for kids. At one point, they played "Science Fact or Science Fiction?" where kids would decide whether a statement read by the host was true.
Davies says they wanted to set up a program that would be memorable for students since the last time North Texas was in the path of totality for a solar eclipse was 1878 and the next will not occur until 2317.
"This was a once in a lifetime event," he says. "This will be an inspirational event where they are going to witness something that was predicted through science."
He says the educational program aimed to spark kids' curiosity and seek answers to questions like how scientists knew when the eclipse would occur, why animals' behavior might change and why shadows might look different on the ground.
Davies says they want to encourage kids to keep asking questions, developing theories and researching topics to find answers.
Less than 60 years passed between the Wright Brothers' first flight and the first man in space. Less than 40 years after that, the first rover landed on Mars. Davies says kids watching the eclipse could wind up achieving something considered impossible now.
"Especially with the new push from NASA to put more people on the moon," he says. "I know I'm going to take my own son to Florida when they launch Artemis II because we want to see that rocket."
He says a child's interest in the eclipse could ultimately lead to a career in science, and they can show kids the variety of different opportunities.
"Maybe one of those students sitting in the Cotton Bowl will be the one who goes on and makes the next scientific discovery in physics or becomes a doctor," he says.
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