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Hello everyone. I was wondering, as a first time teacher, what are some of the responses you have given students in regards to how outer space is? For instance, if a student asks, 'Where does it begin or end?', what kind of response is given? 

Dear Jose and Everyone:

You might try my activity 'How High Up is Space?' available free at: http://bit.ly/howhighspace 

I worked at the onsite childcare center at JSC for 10 years.  The parents are astronauts, mission specialists, and engineers.  So we had a unique perspective on earth and space.  We love doing space-related activities and love it when the parents get involved.

You can try explaining as 

Outer space doesn't have a definite beginning or end that we can point to like a line on a map. Instead, space is vast and limitless. Imagine it like the air around us, but without any atmosphere. As we go higher above the Earth, the atmosphere becomes thinner until it eventually fades away into the vacuum of space. There's no clear boundary because space gradually transitions from our atmosphere to the emptiness of space.

When we talk about space, we often refer to the area beyond Earth's atmosphere, where there's no air to breathe and no atmosphere to scatter light. This allows stars, planets, and other celestial objects to exist. Scientists and astronomers often use the term 'Kármán line' to define the boundary between Earth's atmosphere and space, which is about 100 kilometers (62 miles) above sea level. But remember, space itself continues infinitely into the universe without a specific end point.