Gowanda students take a galactic journey for knowledge

GOWANDA — Every student at Gowanda Elementary School enjoyed an out-of-this-world experience in May.

Panthers in Pre-Kindergarten through fourth-grade took a galactic journey during physical education classes thanks to teachers Mrs. Elizabeth Fish and Mr. Ryan Lipinski who arranged for a digitarium visit during the week of May 5-9 for STEM lessons.

The size of the digitarium – a huge, inflatable planetarium on loan from Erie 2-Chautauqua-Cattaraugus BOCES – necessitated it be housed in the gymnasium.

The GES physical education teachers partitioned the gym and also utilized outdoor learning spaces to help accommodate the educational experience. Both teachers and students enjoy learning in the digitarium because of the unique interactive program that cannot be experienced in the classroom.

“It is a 360-degree dome environment, which surrounds students with visuals, making abstract concepts, like constellations and the surface of the moon, feel real,” says Lipinksi.

Students are able to ask questions that direct the exploration, providing a live, collaborative learning adventure. In the center of the digitarium is a “command center” – a projection unit and computer – used to project images, move them, spin them around and zoom. Users can change time zones, track moon phases, remove and add clouds, and make the stars twinkle.

“We can ‘travel’ through the solar system, flying to the moon and zooming in on distant planets,” says Fish.

The digitarium – also referred to as a “star tent” – was a weeklong source of curiosity, awe and delight for the students who were first briefed on how to safely and efficiently enter and exit and what to expect from the immersive experience.

Using the digitarium helps bring next-generation science standards to life. Learning standards for Pre-K through second grade include:

â-ª Making observations at different times of year to relate the amount of daylight to the time of year.

â-ª Using observations of the sun, moon, and stars to describe patterns that can be predicted.

Learning standards in third and fourth grades include:

â-ª Representing data in graphical displays to reveal patterns of daily changes in length and direction of shadows, day and night, and the seasonal appearance of some stars in the night sky.

â-ª Supporting an argument that the apparent brightness of the sun and stars is due to their relative distances from the Earth.

Mrs. Fish and Mr. Lipinski teamed up to co-teach the students during the jam-packed digitarium sessions and took a slightly different approach to the lessons depending on grade level. They demonstrated a sunrise and sunset, gave an overview of constellations, and helped students make connections between the planet names and what they’ve been learning at home and in the classroom.

The students were full of questions and the novel nature of the digitarium kept them engaged and focused.