Good things come to those who wait! The NEF was pleased to provide funding to the NPS Science Center to purchase a StarLab portable planetarium through a $15,000 grant in our 2015 large grant cycle. It took a while longer than anticipated, but the StarLab was up and running at last week’s 5th Annual Engineering Extravaganza put on by another former NEF grant recipient, Let’s Build, at Broadmeadow School.
During the event, three groups of approximately 24 eager children and parents crawled into the large black dome where day was transformed to night, and all of the stars were on display. The tour through our solar system was guided by grant writer Elise Morgan and other Science Center staff. Once all of the questions were exhausted, participants also got a peek at a second projection cylinder which showed all of the constellations floating across the night sky.
“The Science Center,” Morgan wrote in her grant request, “strives to … provide curriculum which educates, inspires and promotes deep and comprehensive scientific knowledge to support NPS students’ academic futures and by extension, the future of the world in which we live.” The StarLab will eventually be integrated into the curriculum in all elementary grades. Who knows how many future scientists it may inspire?
See coverage of the grant award on the Needham Channel.
