Presentation

During this 2008-2009 academic year, the Blinded by the Light: Urban K-12 Portable Planetarium Outreach Program has already impacted over 700 students and educators in Baltimore City and has provided service learning opportunities for 10 pre-service teaching interns. The fundamental purpose of the program is to bring astronomy back to urban settings via Towson University’s Portable StarLab Planetarium, and to allow urban youth an opportunity to enjoy the wonders of the universe in their own neighborhoods and to maximize their observation and exploration experiences of the night sky despite the presence of heavy light pollution. In tandem, this program affords pre-service teacher interns with an opportunity to engage in science activities within an urban K-12 school community, and allows them to strengthen their science content and pedagogical skills by learning how to present planetarium shows. Each planetarium show is specifically tailored to each school’s science curriculum and is designed to be culturally relevant to the school’s student population. The Baltimore City schools that have participated in the program are Saint Elizabeth School (Grades 6-12), Harriet Tubman Elementary School (Grades 1-5), Baltimore Rising Star Academy (Grades 6-8), Franklin Square Elementary/Middle School (Grades 5-8), Arlington Elementary/Middle School (Grades 3-8), and Rosemont Elementary School (Grades 3-5). The dedicated pre-service interns involved with this program are Gordon Amato, Loren Klimas, Meagan Smith, Jessica Rogers, Stefanie Davis, Danielle Bianconi, Jennifer Beach, Justin Leonard, Danielle Rosenheck, and Lana Shanti.

Poster