Experiencing the Starlab

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Experiencing the Starlab

• A Portable Planetarium

Baltimore County Public Schools Office of
Science, PreK-12
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Starlab Portable Planetarium

• Starlab is a valuable educational tool that is
  being used to deliver astronomy instruction to
  every elementary school child in Baltimore County
  Public Schools.

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Starlab Portable Planetarium

• 1. What is Starlab?
• Starlab is a 25 ft. portable inflatable
  planetarium dome.

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Starlab Portable Planetarium

• 2. How do the students get inside the Starlab?
  
• Students crawl through a tunnel to get inside the
  Starlab.

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Starlab Portable Planetarium

• Students sit on the floor. The images are
  portrayed on the walls and ceiling of the dome.

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Starlab Portable Planetarium

• 25-30 students can fit inside the Starlab.

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Starlab Portable Planetarium

• Students with physical handicaps can attend the
  programs in the Starlab.

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Starlab Portable Planetarium

• 3. Is the Starlab safe? Yes!
• The bottom of the dome is entirely open.
• It is made of flame retardant material.
• It is Latex free.

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Starlab Portable Planetarium
4. How is the Starlab set up? First, a fan is
attached to the dome.
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Starlab Portable Planetarium

• The dome inflates within 10 minutes.

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Starlab Portable Planetarium
Next, the projector is put inside the dome.
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Starlab Portable Planetarium

• What topics are taught in the Starlab?
• Primary programs introduce facts about the
• sun
• Milky Way galaxy
• planets
• phases of the moon
• stars
• exploration of the moon.

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Starlab Portable Planetarium

• Intermediate programs introduce facts about
• star properties
• the planets
• circumpolar stars
• seasonal stars
• space travel
• and the galaxies.

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Starlab Portable Planetarium

• 6. Does Starlab just teach science?
• Starlab is an interdisciplinary tool that
  teaches
• Earth Science
• Language Arts
• Math
• Art
• Social Studies
• Reading

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Starlab Portable Planetarium

• 7. Do teachers have training prior to their
  class coming to the Starlab?
• An in-service on the Starlab is provided and
  teachers are given packets containing
• pre/post visit activities
• extension/optional activities
• teacher background information.

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Starlab Portable Planetarium

• 8. Are students assessed on the information that
  they learn inside the Starlab?

Each unit has pre-assessment and post assessment
to collect data.
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Starlab Portable Planetarium

• 9. How many students have been taught inside the
  Starlab?
• Starlab began in 2004.
• Over 85,913 students have
• been in the Starlab since it
• began.

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Starlab Portable Planetarium

• A young man was overheard saying as he
• crawled out of the Starlab tunnel, I liked
• Starlab. It was fun and interesting. I
• learned a lot about space and the stars.

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Starlab Portable Planetarium

• It was like sitting in the backyard, but it was
• better because you are closer to the stars.