Friends of the Austin Planetarium

Education

Introduction

Education is the most important function of a planetarium. We state this in our mission statement as well as the page where we give 10 answers to the question, “Why does Austin need a planetarium?” This page gives detail and adds depth to this statement. After reading this page, we believe you will not only agree that Austin needs a planetarium, but also agree that it is appalling that a city such as Austin does not even have one planetarium.

Background

When we want to see the night sky, we will have to do some traveling! It never gets truly dark in or near Austin because of all the light pollution. As a result, most stars and the Milky Way have become invisible. Only about 20 to 30 stars are visible on a clear night in downtown Austin. Moving outward from downtown to the suburbs, we might be able to see a couple of hundred stars. In contrast, when we go to a rural dark sky many thousands of stars are visible. Unfortunately, most people today have never seen a sky like that. Anyone who has been lucky enough to have seen such a sky knows how much we have lost.

The only place able to recreate a dark night sky is a planetarium. Unlike an IMAX theater, a planetarium has a projection screen that truly is all around and above you – just like the sky outside. The planetarium projector recreates a perfect night sky (not a single cloud and a comfortable temperature) with as many stars visible as seen from a good dark location.

In addition, by projecting on a spherical dome a planetarium truly recreates the movement of objects across the night sky: the stars, planets and other celestial objects. This kind of realistic simulation can never be achieved on a flat screen (let alone a blackboard). A planetarium can illustrate difficult concepts in ways that make them more meaningful and visual for our students. These are concepts assessed by the TAKS, but which no textbook or classroom demonstration could adequately show. As planetarium employees will be able to tell you, they often hear parents tell them about their students coming home and talking about what they have learned at the planetarium. Most adults will remember their visit to a planetarium as a child. Frequently, this is the only school trip that was exciting enough to be remembered to this day.

A planetarium is an additional tool to help students understand the TEKS elements and to encourage and excite students in the areas of science and mathematics. Like many school districts in Texas, Abilene ISD has their own planetarium! This school district has a proud tradition of excellence and performance in the academic fields. They believe the planetarium is part of the formula for success.

TEKS & TAKS

Austin’s Opportunity Gap

In order to make a fair comparison of schools, the school in question needs to be compared to other schools with similar demographics. At www.just4kids.org this is how the opportunity gap (OG) is determined. The OG is the difference between the percent of continuously enrolled students meeting the state standard (based on the 2005 Passing Standard) at the selected school and the average percent meeting the standard in the top comparable schools. A school's OG is positive when its performance is better than the average of the top comparable schools or negative when its performance is below the average.

If we average the 10th grade science OG for the Austin ISD we find a negative opportunity gap of -2.1. However, the Dallas ISD OG is positive at 2.2; a difference of 4.3 percent!

Full results of our analysis are available upon request.

As Texas raises the bar for passing the TEKS and TAKS test, student performance in the sciences across the state is quite poor. Student understanding of the Earth Sciences, which includes astronomy, is seriously lacking. At the high school level approximately 66% of the integrated Physics and Chemistry, 66% of the Physics and 100% of the Astronomy TEKS could be effectively addressed and supported by planetarium visits. Approximately 68% of the elementary school science TEKS and 54% of the middle school science TEKS could be effectively addressed and supported. Also, fully 43% of the elementary school science TAKS and 39% of the integrated Physics and Chemistry TAKS could be effectively reinforced and supported by visits to the planetarium facility.

The Dallas – Fort Worth area currently has a total of 12 planetariums. Our research has indicated that school districts in the DFW area are scoring significantly better than the schools in the Austin area. See the information box on the right.

Educational Materials and Support

A planetarium is a facility focused on all facets of science education. It is not only a place for children, but also for adults and educators. A planetarium is the logical place to go or call to get any and all of your Astronomy or Space Science questions answered. As a matter of fact, if you have a space related question, you can already contact us on the “Contact Us” page or the “Astro News” page of this website and a professional answer will be forthcoming!

Zodiac Constellations (for grades K - 5)

This document introduces the constellations of the Zodiac. It actively involves students while explaining the significance of constellations. Students create their own constellation as well. Also, subjects such as light pollution are addressed. In addition, the document contains many suggestions to enhance the lesson.
Download the Zodiac Constellations in MS Word format or PDF.

Sailing to Mars (for advanced high school science or early university)

In Sailing to Mars, students are introduced to some concepts used in space flight. Students are asked to calculate travel times for various scenarios as well as solve other space flight problems. The last part of the document details Solar Sail technology. Depending on the level of the students, this document can be done individually or as a class project under guidance of the teacher. Solutions to the problems are available upon request.
Download Sailing to Mars MS Word format or PDF and the data sheet in MS Word format or PDF.

The Friends of the Austin Planetarium have developed several educational documents for use by students at home or in the classroom. In the future, we will expand these documents in number and variety of topics. For now, to give you an idea of what a planetarium can do for the Austin area science education; these documents are available (free) for download. (See panel to the right) A planetarium would have a vast depository of these documents available. In addition, a planetarium would have a large database of exciting science projects for use in the classroom. Clearly, the result is a better and higher quality of education for our children.

Conclusion

All children have a natural curiosity about astronomy. Because Austin does not have a planetarium, we limit our own children of a fulfilling science education. If we as adults are indeed serious about improving science education, a planetarium is an absolute must!

As stated before, the DFW area is able to successfully operate a total of 12 planetariums. We here in Central Texas must certainly be able to operate just one! Please support the Friends of the Austin Planetarium to make this dream come true!

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