Planetarium Production

Pictures from DVHS Open House March 25, 2004

Ryan and Laura greet visitors to the Starlab.

Arielle King also attended but was not present when I was taking pictures...sorry!

About Planetarium Production:

Planetarium Production is a new class at DVHS. It's purpose is to provide experience developing multimedia content for a small planetarium.

Our projects for 2005-2006 include

• A Spanish language "tonight's sky show
• Targeted standards-based shows for 3rd and 5th grade
• Scripted and automated shows, with music, for the public
• Plans to visit every 3rd and 5th grade class in the district with our Starlab planetarium
• ...and even more, as we develop our new shows.

Starlab Planetarium: we conduct planetarium shows for elementary schools, both on-site and off-site. This page will have the basic information for the class and the schedule for shows.

DVHS Planetarium: Our planetarium is now open. A separate page describes the facility and the services we offer. Go to www.ESPACEacademy.com or click here to visit that page.

Planetarium Production Curriculum

The course proposal can be downloaded here.

The course outline (as it appears below) can be downloaded in a more printable form by clicking here.

Course Outline

Planetarium Workshop is a course which prepares students to work in a planetarium by giving them opportunities to operate a small planetarium, develop multimedia materials, attend planetarium shows in a variety of venues, and analyze the California science standards for astronomy for all grade levels.

From the AUSD Course proposal:
This course will provide students with an opportunity to construct multimedia presentations for use in small planetarium settings. The students will prepare a multimedia program on an astronomy related topic or topic suitable for presentation in a planetarium or science center. Students will develop and extend their knowledge of physics, chemistry, astronomy, and mathematics as they prepare, conduct and evaluate planetarium programs.
The program will provide students with the opportunity to contact and interview professional scientists working on cutting edge research, use the latest multimedia projection techniques in a planetarium setting, present the program to a public audience, and fully document the source material used in the context of providing the programs to a larger audience in a regional, state, or national setting by distributing the program.
The major concepts to be developed are: Naming constellations and stars, the effect of the earth’s rotation and revolution around the sun, Moon phases, astronomical coordinate systems, the earth’s place in the universe, stellar evolution, and space travel concepts.
1. Be able to evaluate the content and presentation style of planetarium shows and educational materials in the field of astronomy education.
2. Classify the appropriate grade levels for content in astronomy.
3. Create multimedia presentations for use in planetarium shows.
4. Present material in a planetarium for student and public shows.
5. Operate a planetarium correctly.
6. Manage the flow of people into the planetarium, manage the ticket money collected, count the number of attendees, keep books on the funds collected and disbursed, write and maintain a budget.
7. Do research and interviews on up to date astronomy concepts.
8. Be able to explain the major concepts of astronomy and basic physics and chemistry to a lay audience.
9. Create web based, powerpoint, print and other educational resources for use in the classroom.

Part of the course outline is posted below. The complete outline is in the document archive.

1. Developmental Appropriateness
   a) Analysis of California science standards across grade levels
   b) Developmental stages from Educational pyschology
2. Planetarium Management
   a) Maintaining a planetarium budget
   b) Charging and tracking admission fees
   c) Seeking external funding- grant applications
3. Culminating Project
   a) Develop and Present a planetarium show to the public or a school
   

Resource Material: PASS Chapter outline
1. Planetarium Educator's Workshop Guide
2. Planetarium Activities for Schools
3. Resources for Teaching Astronomy & Space Science
4. A Manual for Using Portable Planetariums
5. Constellations Tonight
6. Red Planet Mars
7. Moons of the Solar System
8. Colors From Space
9. How Big Is the Universe?
10. Who "Discovered" America?
11. Astronomy of the Americas
12. Stonehenge
13. Northern Lights

Audience: Teachers and Planetarium Instructors
Age/Grade Level: Grades K-12
Subject Area: Astronomy and Space Science
Format: Books, 30-70 pages each, b&w photos, illustrations
Price: $11.95 per book; $132.00 per set of twelve
Item Number for Set of Twelve: AST300

Standards Analysis
Since this course applies what is learned in Astronomy and Space Science and Astronomy and Earth science, it reinforces the standards covered there, which are primarily Earth Science content with some Physics and Chemistry.
Since research, writing, and public speaking are a large part of this course, standards from History and English Language Arts are an important part of the course.
A relational standards matrix is under development.

Handouts and Notes

Please note: a complete list of all handouts provided in this format can be seen at this address:
http://homepage.mac.com/astronomyteacher/FileSharing1.html

Mimio board notes--select the notes you want to see and click download. JPG files will be downloaded which you can open with any web browser or graphics program. Depending on the browser you are using they may or may not open automatically.

Documents--Please note: Most of these documents are in Adobe Acrobat format. They require the use of the (free) Adobe Acrobat reader. Please note: Most of these documents are in Adobe Acrobat format. They require the use of the (free) Adobe Acrobat reader. This is used instead of html because the document formatting remains identical to what the printed version looks like, no matter what your browser settings, and the format is universal to all computer platforms (Windows, DOS, Unix,Sun, and Mac). Requires Adobe Acrobat 3 or higher. IF YOU HAVE ACROBAT READER 5.0, YOU SHOULD DOWNLOAD AND INSTALL THE LATEST UPDATE WHICH CORRECTS PROBLEMS WITH OS X AND WINDOWS XP.

A properly installed, recent copy of Adobe Acrobat reader should install a plug-in within your browser application and these links should work automatically. If you've installed the reader and when you click on the link, you still get a screen of random symbols, right-click (windows) or click and hold (Mac) until the pop-up menu appears and choose "Save link As..." from the list that appears. Choose Save Link as Source, and name the file something that ends in .pdf if it doesn't happen automatically. Then start Acrobat reader, and choose Open from the File menu. You should then be able to open the file.

 

Calendar

Lesson Plans

Web logs: News

Master Index

Astronomy and Space Science
Astronomy and Earth Science
AP Physics
CP Physics
Astronomy and Physics Research
Planetarium Production
ESPACE Academy
Spitzer AGN Research

California Science Standards

Click here to see the standards for all grades and subjects

 

 

Lesson Plan Calendar- Check upcoming lessons and past homework assignments here

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