Last week MICDS first grade students discovered more about our solar system, stars, and outer space during a visit to the St. Louis Science Center. Students are learning about the sun, stars, moon, and earth in their literacy and science classes, and the filed trip was an excellent way to further broaden their horizions. “Being able to have a star experience is such a great learning opportunity for students” says Laura Pupillo, Lower School Science Teacher. “Although we have a small projector we use in class, the planetarium can project stars in a way that we can not” she says.
While at the Science Center students were able to explore different aspects of engineering, natural history, and physics. Students built a model of the arch, explored trusses and bridges, got to run in the energizer ball machine, and studied fossils and dinosaur bones – something they will study in more depth when they learn about Earth’s eras. The planetarium, however, was the focal point of the trip. “The planetarium brings the night sky to life and sparks enthusiasm and interest for our expanding universe” Pupillo says. During the trip students looked for constellations, learned about the sun, the sizes of stars and their heat, and about how stars die and are born – a lesson that was revisited in class when learning about nebulas.
Exploring the rich educational opportunities offered by the science center is a wonderful way to spark curiosity and inspire learning. “Many of our students have never been (to the Science Center)” says Pupillo. “I hope after visiting they’ll want to come back with their families, check out the other exhibits and give their families a tour of what they saw and experienced.”
