Fourth grade students at Cider Mill School had a unique opportunity to visit the district’s mobile planetarium to learn about the nighttime sky and the moon this past week.
Several years ago, the Wilton Education Foundation donated the portable planetarium to the Wilton Public Schools. This valuable resource helps support the Wilton district’s science programs.
“For many schools, this would be a field trip or would require a special presenter to come in,” wrote the school’s science instructional leader, Michael Hossler, in a release to GOOD Morning Wilton. “Since WEF donated the planetarium to the district, it has been incorporated into our 4th grade science curriculum and every fourth grader has the experience as part of our Earth, Moon and Sun unit.”
For these lessons, the planetarium is set up in the south gym at Cider Mill School, and the lessons are led by the science lab teacher, Kevin Meehan. He says this kind of teaching tool takes his ability to get the students interested in learning right away.
“The first objective in teaching any lesson is engagement. The moment I turn on the nighttime sky I hear oohs and ahhs. The students are completely engaged. One of the next objectives of a science lesson is connection to the real world, or context. Talking about the night time sky is much different than experiencing it together. The planetarium allows us to experience the nighttime sky as well as look at the phases of the moon.”
It also allows Meehan to make the science curriculum relate to other academic areas, including history and social studies.
“I use the visuals in the planetarium of the moon’s surface to extend the lesson to talk about moon exploration. We compare Neil Armstrong putting the first flag on the moon to Columbus putting a flag on the Island of Hispaniola. The craters created by meteorites lead to an explanation of atmosphere. The oceans and seas, which are actually ancient lava flows, lead to a discussion of gravity as well as Galileo and his moon observations,” he says.
It’s something, Meehan says, the kids just love.
“This lesson may be the favorite lesson of the entire fourth grade curriculum although I’m quite sure our Van de Graf generator lesson in January would get many votes as well.”
Pictured above are students from Mrs. Levenherz and Mrs. Staub’s 4th grade classes.
Photo Credit: Jackie Levenherz