Third-graders in the West Windsor-Plainsboro Regional Schools are learning about astronomy in an innovative, hands-on way this school year. Thanks to a $1,600 grant from the West Windsor-Plainsboro Education Foundation, a nonprofit organization that funds innovative programs in the school district, every third grade elementary student will experience learning in the Starlab mobile planetarium for a week.
“Starlab will benefit all 750 third grade students by fostering a life-long love of astronomy and mythology,” says Jeff Grabell, a teacher at Dutch Neck School and the lead teacher grantee. Fellow teacher grantees include Joan Reil, Maurice Hawk School; Lizbeth Reil, Wicoff School; and Ryan Smith and Kerrilyn Lynch, Town Center School. Teachers attended training over the summer at Raritan Valley Community College to become certified in using the Skylab planetarium.
The Starlab provides visual, hands-on learning experiences for students. Lessons focus on constellations and the solar system, but also include the mythology of the ancient Greeks and other cultures, an effective connection between science and the language arts unit on folktales.
Starlab allows children an in-depth look at an unspoiled night sky. The world has changed over the past 30 years, and so has the sky. Light pollution is now a problem for virtually every student or amateur astronomer. It is rare to find students, at any grade level, who have regularly seen the Milky Way with their own eyes.
For more information, visit www.wwpeducationfoundation.org or call 609-375-8997.
