Being a Middle School science teacher means I interacted with children between the ages of 11-14 every day. This can be a difficult age to teach because they are more concerned with their social standing than learning what they are being taught in school. The benefit to teaching science is that it is a subject which allows physical interaction with materials and, if done right, makes it exciting, keeping the students interested. One of the problems with teaching this age group is that they do not adjust to change well at all.
The first thing I teach my students is that science is a subject that can change on a daily basis. Evidence, facts, and information is being gathered continuously which either supports what we believe we know, or changes and refines it, increasing our understanding. What we know today is based on the information and facts that have been gathered, up to this moment. This however does not mean the facts we understand today will remain this way.
On February 18, 1930 a small planet was discovered on the edge of our solar system. It is common practice that the person or people who discover an object get to name it, however a contest was held allowing the public to suggest a name for this new planet. Venetia Burney, an 11 year old girl from Oxford England suggested the name Pluto to her grandfather over breakfast, which he submitted to the Lowell Observatory for consideration. She chose the name Pluto in keeping with the tradition of naming planets after Roman gods. Pluto is the Roman god of the underworld, just as Mercury was named for the messenger of the Roman gods, Venus was named for the Roman goddess of love, and Mars was named for the Roman god of war. Now it just so happens, during that same year, 1930, Walt Disney created a new character, a little dog which appeared in the animated short Chain Gang. After a couple more films which endeared the character to the public, it was finally settled in 1931, that the dog would be Mickey Mouse’s faithful companion and was named after the newly discovered planet Pluto. Because of the two events occurring so closely together, I think it became believed in the public’s mind that the Planet was named for the Disney character, and not the other way around.
Fast forward to 2006 when there was a shift in astronomy that caused a ripple effect, and some outrage in the general public. On August 24, 2006, the International Astronomical Union reclassified Pluto as a Dwarf Planet. Before this I had always taught my 8th grade students the saying My Very Elderly Mother Just Sent Us Nine Pizzas to remember the order of the planets from the sun. Now what was I supposed to do?? The students were in an outrage, how could they do that to Pluto?!? Remember when I said middle schoolers do not adjust to change well? There was a tremendous amount of discussion about how and why anyone would do this. I had to remind my students that science can change on a daily basis and then gave them the reasons behind this change. Why did my students, as well as the general public take such a personal affront to the classification change?
I believe a large part of this was the vocabulary that was used by newscasters when the change was announced. The lead stories and headlines screamed Pluto has been demoted to a dwarf planet. Let’s think about this. What comes to mind when you hear the term demoted? I personally take this term to be negative, a demotion gives the meaning of not being good enough, and I found that this was a large part behind my students being upset. I had to explain to my students that Pluto was not demoted, it was simply reclassified, which has a totally different meaning. It was reclassified because the facts that astronomers had gathered placed it into a different category. It qualified in 2 of the categories for a major planet, but failed in the third, clearing its local neighborhood of other objects. In general Earth is a planet because between us and the Sun is our Moon, Venus, and Mercury. Other than our Moon, there are no other large objects in our general “neighborhood” and the other major planets fit all three criteria as well. When negative terms such as demoted or downgraded are used, it gives negative connotations that are going to cause intense emotions that the word reclassified does not.
With people in older generations I think their attachment to the Disney character Pluto played a part in their emotional outrage. They have a connection between a beloved character from their childhood and the discovery of the planet. The planet Pluto was discovered during their time, it was a major astronomical event that they became excited about and embraced, and in fact had a sense of “ownership” over. Along with the outrage came the feelings of resentment and questioning of who had the authority to do such a thing. To the general public, Pluto belonged to them and they weren’t asked or consulted about the change. Well the authority was the International Astronomical Union, a group of international astronomers with degrees and specialties in different aspects of space and the objects in it. I can’t think of anyone more qualified to make these decisions. No one questions why medical or geological terms are changed because they obviously are being made by scientists knowledgeable in those fields. However, when changes are made there isn’t the personal connection that Pluto has.
The thing most people in their outrage do not take the time to realize is that the reclassification really has no effect on Pluto. Pluto is still there, it remains in its orbit around the Sun, it still takes 248 Earth years for Pluto to orbit our sun once. The surface of Pluto remains the same and astronomers are still analyzing the data gained from the New Horizons fly by. Pluto is still surrounded by its moons at the outer solar system on the edge of the Kuiper Belt. Pluto hasn’t changed, it remains what it has always been. The only thing that has changed is its classification so the planetary astronomers can organize their data, and that all of this data is contained in the same place. When it comes to Pluto, nothing has changed so why let its classification be so hotly contested? Enjoy Pluto for what it is; open your minds and learn from the data that is being collected and continuously analyzed by planetary astronomers. Being passionate about space and the objects in it can be a wonderful and wondrous thing, just make sure you remain open to change and the introduction of new information.
About the Author:
Constance Martin-Trembley has a Bachelor’s of Science degree in Elementary Education and a Master’s of Education Degree in teaching Science Education. She retired in July of 2023, after being a middle school science teacher for 23 years, 22 of those for the New Haven School District, where she has twice earned teacher of the year.
Connie grew up in Detroit in the 1960’s during the space race between the US and Russia. This time in history sparked a life long interest in space for many young children including Connie. Connie has had the privilege of having an asteroid named after her, (117852) Constance, for the promotion of space education among children.
Connie is married to Bob Trembley – they are both volunteer NASA JPL Solar System Ambassadors, and promote space education at public venues, giving lectures about various space related topics. Connie has a particular fascination about the 1960’s space race and those involved.
