Third graders across the district recently had an exciting opportunity to explore astronomy through Starlab, a portable planetarium that brings immersive skywatching experiences directly into the classroom.
Before entering the inflatable dome, students used constellation tubes and rotating paper plate models to learn how to identify circumpolar constellations and understand how stars appear to rotate around Polaris, the North Star. Using specialized sky canisters, teachers demonstrated how constellations change over time and with the seasons, helping students make meaningful connections between science, storytelling, and cultural traditions.
Once inside the dome, the students began their journey with the Indigenous story “How Hummingbird Created the Stars,” a legend shared by West Coast tribes, including the Chumash and Suquamish peoples. The lesson helped students connect scientific observation with the ways cultures throughout history have used stories to explain and understand the night sky.
They viewed a realistic northern hemisphere star field projected onto the dome and learned astronomy terms such as “zenith”, “horizon,” and “asterism.” The cylinder was rotated to simulate the passage of time, and the visit concluded with a viewing of the Greek cylinder to observe illustrated constellations while listening to shortened versions of the Greek legends.
Starlab is a portable, inflatable planetarium dome that brings an immersive 360-degree learning experience into the classroom. Starlab utilizes film cylinders that fit over a specialized projector to create vivid images on the inside of the dome, making it easy to demonstrate the night sky, the global projection of the Earth, ancient mythological characters, and more.
Thank you to teachers Rebecca Beiter, Cynthia Reiss, Lindsey Mooney, and Luca Renz for leading these special Starlab presentations across the district!