Katherine Johnson for Kids
Math genius at NASA!
"Hi friends! Today I want to tell you about Katherine Johnson—a mathematical genius who helped send astronauts to the moon! Katherine used her incredible math skills to calculate the paths for spaceships, and her work was SO accurate that astronauts trusted her more than computers! She shows us that being smart and working hard can literally help people reach for the stars! Let's learn her amazing story!"
Fun facts about Katherine Johnson
- Katherine was so good at math that astronaut John Glenn refused to fly into space until she personally checked the computer's calculations!
- Katherine loved counting so much that she counted the steps to church, the number of forks on the table, and even the stars in the sky!
- Katherine was handpicked by a college president to break the color barrier - she was one of just three Black students to integrate West Virginia State's graduate program!
- Katherine took a break from her career to raise her three daughters, but she always knew she would return to math!
- Before electronic computers, teams of women called 'computers' did all the math calculations by hand - Katherine was the best of them all!
What your child will learn
- Learn about Katherine Johnson
- Be inspired
- Value heritage
Read the full illustrated story of Katherine Johnson
The complete lesson has a page-by-page illustrated story and a playful quiz— plus 28 more heroes and hundreds of lessons. Start free, no card needed.
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