Dome is where the science is
For any student, the environment in which they are taught is incredibly important to the learning process. The most typical of learning environments is the classroom — surrounded by peers, led by qualified teachers and college professors, protected from the elements by four solid walls within a school building or campus hall.
The learning process can take place in all types of structures and environments, however. Students learn at home, or out in the field. They learn in museums, art galleries and music halls. They learn outside of doors and walls, out in nature. Students learn while surrounded by outside life, in office buildings, in parks and open spaces.
Sometimes they learn in domes, too.
Or at least they can, thanks to Dickinson State University and its Discovery Dome. This portable, inflatable dome houses a state-of-the-art theater that encompasses the full field of vision for up to 30 elementary students with interactive documentaries on science.
Dr. Corinne Brevik is a member of North Dakota United, and teachers in the Department of Natural Sciences for Dickinson State University. She headed the initiative to procure a planetarium-style dome that can travel around the state and present science lessons to school-aged children in schools and at public events.
“I think it’s exciting to have the dome come because it’s something new and different,” Brevik said. “And the shows themselves, because they’re professionally made, it’s like going to see an IMAX show. It’s very immersive, it’s very exciting. There’s lots of motion and there’s lots of action, and in the meantime, they’re very rich in content. They should have a really interesting time and be very engaged, and yet learn something.”
For 20–25 minutes, students are surrounded by planets and stars from across the galaxy, erupting volcanoes, violent storms, dinosaurs large and small, white and red blood cells and the tiniest parts of the human body’s immune system, and even Elmo and Big Bird from “Sesame Street,” guiding young students through a tour of the night sky. Lessons offered in the Discovery Dome cover multiple fields of science, and can matched up to all grade levels, from preschool up into high school.
“We now have, I think, 35 shows,” Brevik said. “As we have additional funding available, we continue to purchase additional shows. At this point, like I said, we have over 30 shows, and we’ve been purchasing so that we can cover a breadth of grade levels. We now have ones for the very small kids; we have ‘Sesame Street’ and all the way up to shows that are very much high school-appropriate. And then we’ve been trying to trying to cover the breadth of topics, as well. So we’ve got astronomy ones, but we also have biology ones. We have earth science shows. We’ve got a couple shows that are very history-oriented, as well.”
The Discovery Dome was developed by the Houston Museum of Natural Science and by Rice University, and was purchased by DSU through a STEM grant and a Math-Science Partnership grant. The dome can be transported to any schools interested in its use that are located within two hours of driving time from Dickinson for free, while a minimal fee can be assessed to schools outside of the southwestern part of the state.
“We purchased the Discovery Dome in the fall of 2012,” Brevik said. “I had seen a sample of one of the domes at a conference that I was at, and it was amazing and wonderful. We wanted one, but it took us a few years to figure out how to fund it. The last few years, Dickinson State University has had a math-science partnership grant — they’re called MSP grants. It’s a federal grant, and it funds STEM-related activities. And so the purchase of the dome was part of our STEM grant proposal. The grant also pays for it to travel, so it pays for our students to travel with it. And that allows the schools to get it free of charge.”
The dome is operated by two DSU students, who travel with the equipment, set it up and handle all programming. So, as the students inside the dome are learning about science from high-definition, museum-quality projections, the college students in charge of operation are learning valuable lessons in becoming educators and professionals.
“It’s part of how we were able to help get it funded,” Brevik said, “because it’s great for the K-12 students, but it’s also great for our university students because they get the experience that they have to be responsible and get to the place on time and be professional. It gives them a lot of really good experience as well, so it’s kind of a win-win.”
The dome measures in at five meters in diameter and is 10 feet tall. Its compact size puts it securely within the space parameters of fitting into a high school gym or on the stage of a school’s theater. Any teachers or administrators interested in having the Discovery Dome come to your school to teach your students interactive lessons in science should visit www.dsudiscoverydome.com, to find more information and how to contact Brevik for scheduling a show.
“We’re happy to go to a school for just one classroom, or for an entire grade level, or for an entire school,” Brevik said. “And we have enough shows that teachers can choose a show that matches their curriculum. So it can be part of what they’re learning. But we’ve had groups of kids who were sitting in the dome, basically screaming because they’re having so much fun. I had a group of first-graders watching the dinosaur one, and they just got louder and louder, and they were very, very into it.”
