Montgomery College's Planetarium, Grade-Specific School Programs
Picture of school group coming to the planetarium at Montgomery
College
THE NIGHT SKY FOR ALL
A planetarium visit can inspire the wonder of the night sky at any age
or grade level. Our children are deprived of the night sky because of
early
bed times, unsafe outdoor conditions, and light pollution in cities;
but
we offer the night sky at every visit to the planetarium. The Spitz 512
planetarium projector shows 1,834 naked eye stars, the Milky Way (the
band
of diffuse light caused by the disk of our own galaxy), the five
naked-eye
planets (Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn), the earth's moon,
and the large and small Magellanic clouds (companion galaxies of our
own
Milky way that are visible from the southern hemisphere). The
planetarium
star projector allows us to take a trip to any place on the earth and
view
the sky. The large and small Magellanic clouds, for instance, are not
visible
from the Washington metro area. The planetarium star projector allows
us
to take a trip forward or backward in time and to see the
constellations
shift positions with different north and south pole stars-these shifts
are not perceptible within a single human life time. The planetarium
star
projector allows us to compress time and see the motion of the planets
(planet means "wandering star") with respect to the fixed stars-these
motions
would require months of nightly observations in order to see them in
the
real sky. But even with all of this to offer, so much more can be done
within the Montgomery College, Takoma Park/Silver Spring planetarium.
Using the Program
of Studies from the Office of Instruction and Program Development,
Montgomery
County Public Schools, we have planned the following grade-specific
planetarium
programs.
The
planetarium is
open from
the last week full in August (Monday, August 21, 2006) until the Friday
before Memorial day in May.
This
is an academic institution so there are a few holidays like
Thanksgiving and
around Christmas and new year's day when the entire institution is
closed. Wednesday is my day off since we have programs on
Saturday and occasionally on Sunday. So please plan your school
trips for Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, or Friday, but not Wednesday.
Kindergarten: Star Patterns
None of the County instructional objectives for kindergarten are
directly
addressed by planetarium programs, although concepts such as "near and
far," "large and small," and similar comparisons certainly apply.
Suggestions
from imaginative teachers are welcome. However, many kindergarten
children
are afraid of the dark unless the number of hand-holding adults is at
least
one for two children. (Most first graders are not afraid of the dark if
warned in advance.) If you have a kindergarten class that you would
like
to bring to the planetarium, please give me a call. Children at this
age
are very good at learning and recognizing patterns in the sky.
First Grade: Sun Shadows
Universe in Change: "Identify that the position of shadows cast by
objects
in the sun changes during the day.'' An equatorial sundial made of a
card
with a drinking straw as a gnome illustrates this well. Both students
and
teachers can build this simple object. The students will need help in
installing
the soda straw at the correct angle. However, even if the angle is
wrong
and the gnome is not oriented close to true geographical north, the
shadow
change throughout the day is apparent. In the first grade clock reading
is generally also an objective, and a correctly made and pointed
equatorial
sundial is readable directly in hours, just like a clock face. Of
course,
it will read local apparent solar time, not zone mean solar time.
Second Grade: Sun-Earth-Moon Dance
Universe in Change: "Describe revolution as movement around an object."
One year passes when the earth revolves about the sun. A small globe
moved
about an incandescent light, the sun, demonstrates this. "Describe
rotation
as the spinning of an object in complete turns on its axis." One day
passes
when the earth rotates about its polar axis. An incandescent bulb in a
fixed spot (the sun) and the same globe demonstrate day and night. Once
the students see revolution and rotation modeled as they would appear
from
outside the solar system, then they are ready to view the same thing as
seen from the earth, projected on the planetarium dome.
Third Grade: Measurer's of the Solar System
Universe in Change: "Identify the relative position of the planets to
the
sun." Students can build a scale model of the solar system with the
earth
as a peppercorn, the sun as an eight-inch ball, and Jupiter as a
chocolate-covered
cherry. An outdoor walk of 1,000 yards times shows the distance between
the planets correctly. Such "planet models" have been assembled in the
planetarium now. If the teacher will bring at least one chocolate
covered
cherry for each student, then we can eat Jupiter. The other planets are
edible, but not particularly palatable (except Uranus and Neptune, the
Spanish peanuts, and Saturn, the corn nut). We can munch on the smaller
planets, too, if you bring enough Spanish peanuts and corn nuts for the
entire class. The planetarium budget will allow me to provide the
planets
for the scale-model solar system walk, but not to feed your class. The
motion of the planets relative to the fixed stars and their retrograde
loops with respect to the fixed stars can be easily demonstrated in the
planetarium; true understanding of this motion for third graders is
probably
too much to expect, but they should be exposed to the wonder of it.
Introducing
a little vocabulary, like "retrograde motion of the superior planets"
is
certainly harmless as long as pressure for understanding is not
expected.
Another county instruction objective is "construct a sun-earth-moon
model
and explain the phases of the moon." White styrofoam balls on a stick
are
in the planetarium now for use as moons. A student's head plays the
role
of the earth, and the incandescent light bulb is the sun. Full moon
rises
in the east when the sun sets in the west. New moon rises and sets with
the sun. Waxing moon is up before the sun sets with the lighted side
pointing
to where the sun is at. Waning moon rises after the sun has set with
the
lighted side pointing to where the sun will rise. This ditty is more
for
the teachers' benefit than the students' at this age, except for the
gifted
students.
Fourth Grade: Star Navigators
Universe in change: "Determine the relative position of objects in
commonly
used directional terms." The cardinal points of north, east, south, and
west on the horizon of the planetarium will be used for this. It is
also
appropriate to introduce the north pole and how latitude is determined
by it. The students can build an Arabic Kamal out of a 3x5 card,
string,
and knot for the latitude of Washington, D.C. This device also
illustrates
how simple some types of navigation by the stars are and clearly points
out our cultures' great, but often overlooked, debt to the Arab world.
Pointing out some of the many Arabic names that we have adopted for the
bright stars should reinforce this lesson. Once the Kamal is made for
the
latitude of Washington, D.C., we can look at the simulated night sky
from
another latitude, and the students can use their Kamals to tell us
whether
to sail north or south to get back home, just like Sinbad the sailor on
his dahomey. Another objective under "the universe in change" is to
"Describe
the relative motion of an object with respect to the position or motion
of another object." This can be explained in the planetarium by showing
the retrograde motion of the superior planets. This concept will be
more
likely to be intelligible if these students have seen the retrograde
loops
in the third grade during a previous planetarium visit. The fact that
the
sun itself goes around the disk of the Milky Way galaxy in about
240,000,000
years will be pointed out. The disk of the Milky Way, our own galaxy,
is
clearly visible in the planetarium. PowerPoint presntations used
for part of the program on the Kamal.
Fifth Grade: Newton's Laws
Energy: "Demonstrate that any change in motion is caused by unbalanced
forces" (Newton's second law), and "explain that the property of
inertia
makes objects remain at rest or continue in motion" (Newton's first
law).
Both concepts can be demonstrated in the planetarium. Gravity will be
discussed
as the force that causes weight and circular motion (instead of
straight
line motion) in a planetarium program for this grade. Matter:
Molecules,
atoms, and various chemical properties are discussed. At this point a
song
about the elemental composition of the universe could be taught to the
class, as they are apt to have some appreciation for what some of the
words
really mean, such as hydrogen and helium.
Twinkle, Twinkle, little star.
Yes I know just what you are.
You're three-quarters hydrogen,
and one-quarter helium
with trace amounts of other things
from pink sea shells, to diamond rings.
My daughter could sing this song in kindergarten, but I suspect that
she
had no real grasp of what exactly hydrogen and helium were then.
She has graduated from Montgomery College with an AA in art, then
transfered to Drexel University and graduated with a B.S. in graphic
art in March of 2006. I am now sure that she understands
all parts of this song now.
Sixth Grade: Star Light, spectra of stars
In the sixth grade students "investigate the sun and the stars and
study
the concept of electromagnetism." Some physics demonstration equipment
will be in the planetarium for this: a gas discharge tube of hydrogen
and
another of helium with plastic diffraction gratings handed our to each
student for viewing the unique discrete emission spectra of these
ubiquitous
elements. Diffraction gratings give a better dispersion of the
spectrum,
are easier to hold in the hand, and are cheaper than prisms (which
produce
spectra by refraction). Diffraction gratings also work using the wave
aspect
of electromagnetic radiation---although I am not sure that the average
six grader can appreciate this subtlety (some college students seem to
not truly appreciate this). Resinging the elemental composition of the
universe song is not a bad idea. With the diffraction gratings, a
continuous
spectrum from a clear incandescent filament with low current will be
cooler
and predominately red in color, and with high current will be hotter
and
predominately blue in color. This a qualitative way of grasping Wien's
law. This will partially help the students achieve the goal under "the
universe in change," Demonstrate that the apparent brightness of stars
is related to their size, distance, and temperature." Slides will be
used
to explain that distance diminishes the brightness of light by the
inverse
square law for point sources. The size of a star has a direct effect on
its apparent brightness, which can be demonstrated by comparing Deneb,
which is bright but very far away, to bright but very near stars in the
summer triangle, such as Vega and Altair. Perhaps the students should
be
shown the Hertzsprung-Russell diagram, which is the heart of stellar
astronomy.
After all, if you understand this diagram, you can understand about
half
of everything that is said in a professional meeting of astronomers and
astrophysicists. The H-R diagram as a unifying principle in astronomy
is
as important as natural selection is in the life sciences. Another
sixth
grade objective under "the universe in change" is to "Demonstrate a
technique
for sampling the number of stars in the sky." This is a planetarium
activity
taken directly from the Spitz manual and can be done quantitatively
with
round cardboard viewing tubes for each student. Newton's third law,
which
is sometimes so hard for students to grasp is also introduced in this
grade
under "the universe in change" objective "Demonstrate that in the
movement
of objects, for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction."
Gravity always gives rise to pairs of motion in the cosmos. Two other
objectives
that are best addressed in a planetarium in this grade are: (1)
"Explain
that the movement of the earth relative to the sun occurs in a regular
and orderly manner" (yearly motion). It is appropriate to turn on the
ecliptic
coordinate system, something unique to a planetarium. (2) "Explain that
the apparent movement of stars is a result of the rotation of the
earth."
The sixth grade curriculum is so rich in things that can best be done
in
a planetarium that several visits and detailed coordination with the
classroom
teacher would be very helpful.
Seventh Grade: Life in the Void
In the seventh grade the theme of the science program is life science.
Three different hour-length programs are available for seventh graders
with an emphasis on life science. Living in Space explores
what
humans have to do to adjust to weightlessness and the absence of air
and
a comfortable temperature. Protecting humans from too much radiation is
also stressed. Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence, SETI
investigates
how and why we are looking for alien intelligence in a vast and mostly
empty universe. To search for extra-terrestrial intelligent life we are
forced to think very critically about what sort of signals terrestrial
intelligent life might send to the cosmos. Viking's Search for Life
on Mars reviews our effort to see if microbial life exists in the
soil
of the red planet. This program forces us to examine the most basic
properties
of the simplest organisms and to think hard about the characteristics
that
distinguish living things from nonliving things.
Eighth Grade: Origin of the Solar System
In the Eighth grade the theme of the science program is the universe in
change. One of the many objectives is to compare and contrast the
theories
governing the origin of the solar system. Every text book, even those
written
for college students and published this year, are vague and outdated on
this topic. Since I wrote my Ph.D. dissertation on star formation and
am
still actively doing research in this field, I can certainly remedy
this
situation. Some of prettiest regions in the sky are places where active
star formation are occurring right now. We can not yet see planets
around
other stars, but we do see dust disks around many of the younger ones.
This is a very dynamic subject in which gravitational energy is
transformed
into rotational energy. Students will see the difference between
potential
and kinetic energy and what difference this makes in understanding a
real
scientific problem. Many things about star and planet formation are
still
not understood, but many things are also clearly understood, at least
in
broad outline. Scientific visualization of isodensity surfaces and the
evolution of rotational kinetic energy using hydrodynamics of self
gravitating
gas clouds is shown; some of this I did for my dissertation, some of
this
I am doing now, and some visualizations are the works of others.
All Grades Language Arts and Social Studies
The form of the constellations and the stories in the sky have English
language arts and social studies significance. The most obvious
detailed
multiconstellation story is the story of Perseus, Andromeda, Cetus,
Cassiopeia,
Cepheus, but there are actually stories about most of the other 88
constellations
with the exception of Microscopium and Telescopium. There are also
alternative
constellation grouping and naming in other cultures. There is almost an
endless source of folk tales. All that would be needed to complete the
fantasy of telling stories outdoors underneath the night sky would be a
simulated campfire. This will be done through an appeal to the
students'
imagination.
HOW DO I GET MY CLASS TO THE PLANETARIUM?
Now that you are excited about getting your class into the planetarium,
this is how you do it: you call Harold
Williams, the planetarium director of Montgomery College at Takoma
Park/Silver Spring. My office phone is [301]-650-1463. We can then
schedule a time and
date. It costs no money. Of course, you have to arrange transportation
to Montgomery College, Takoma Avenue and Fenton Street, Takoma Park,
Maryland
20912-4197.
Directions
to the planetarium.
My office is in the planetarium, which has a conspicuous silver-colored
domed roof and is loosely attached to Science South on Fenton Street.
Group
size is limited to 42 (the number of seats in the planetarium) per
session.
If two classes come together with 25 students in each class, then that
is two sessions not one. If more than 42 persons come, plan to occupy
one
group while the other is in the planetarium. I hope to hear from you
soon.
The stars are the providence of all of mankind.
My
list of Educational Resources in Astronomy.
Montgomery
College's
Planetarium home page.
web page by Dr. Harold Williams, updated 6:59PM on December 2, 2006.