Kopernik has two inflatable domes for our Portable Planetarium. Our larger dome spans 18 feet across, 11 feet high, and can accommodate up to 25 students. The smaller dome is 15 feet across and 9 feet high and can accommodate 20 students. The planetarium program is presented by trained educators who tailor content to various age groups and can be aligned to specific topics or themes, if requested.  For ages pre-k through grade 1, the program length is 15 minutes. For all other ages the program length is 25 minutes. When multiple sessions are scheduled, a transition time of 5 minutes is required between sessions for entering and exiting the dome. Our domes can accommodate patrons in a wheelchair. The cost for the first hour is $290 and for every additional hour, the cost is $140. 

Note: Broome-Tioga BOCES provides a portable planetarium (Digital Dome) as a Science Base Service (410.840.200).  Because of this, schools in the Broome-Tioga BOCES cannot purchase Kopernik’s planetarium programs through the Extended Classroom COSER. If a district or school within the BT-BOCES region requests a school-based planetarium program from Kopernik, payment would be made directly by the district/school to Kopernik Observatory.  

Students will make an air rocket from a 4 ¼ x 11-inch sheet of paper and card stock fins. Once the rocket is built, they will head outside and they will have their rocket launched with an air compressor. Their air rocket could possibly launch as high as 30 to 40 feet into the air and travel over 100 feet. The activity can include evaluating their launched rocket, and redesigning it for a second launch. In the event of inclement weather, we launch the rockets down a long hallway. Older students can apply trigonometry concepts to calculate the highest height of their rockets. The program requires 30 minutes to an hour to complete based on the age group and program design. Cost: $120 per section of 24 students.

Kopernik Observatory & Science Center staff will introduce the students to the celestial night sky here in the Northern Hemisphere. Students will construct a Sky-wheel, also known as a planisphere, that can be used to study the movement of the sky and its constellations. After creating the star wheel, the students will learn how to use the star wheel and make a connection to a night sky simulator that students can utilize to determine objects in the sky. Cost: $120 per section of 24 students.

Students will learn about conductors and insulators. Students will build a simple circuit. Next, the students will explore conductive and insulating dough with their electrical circuit. that can light LEDs. Finally, the students will use what they learned to engineer a creature that will light up. The program is adapted from SciGirls and requires one hour to complete. Based on material developed by SciGirlsConnect for the SciGirls Network, with funding from the National Science Foundation under Grant No.DRL-1612605. Cost: $210 per section of 24 students. This program requires one and a half hours. 

Planning for human habitats in space requires a different way of thinking about construction. This program provides students with an exploration in how advance additive manufacturing technology (3D-printing) can create habitat solutions that can allow humans to live on Earth, Moon, Mars, and beyond. The students will use the engineering design process to simulate a 3D printer to extrude “regolith” (a polymer soil mixture) to design and build a small-scale human habitat for the Moon or Mars with a design challenge of a time limit and engineering constraints. $150 per section of 24 students.

LEGO® Education SPIKE™ activities are designed to help students develop the abstract and critical thinking skills they need to solve complex problems. Each experience broadens students' understanding of physics as it applies to real-life settings and design. Students are encouraged to create and then recreate their structures to solve different design challenges.

Trained Kopernik educators provide three levels of SPIKE robotics activities, developmentally suited to age and grade level interests and skills:

·         The Perfect Swing (Grades 1-2): Students create a robotic swing to investigate motion, energy, stability, forces, and interactions. Students are provided an engineering design challenge to extend their thinking and build upon the initial design. Program cost is $120.

·         Mini Golf (Grades 3-4): Students create a robotic mini-mini golf hole to investigate motion, stability, forces, and interactions. After the initial set up and construction, students are presented with an engineering challenge designed to extend their thinking and promote problem solving and creativity. Program cost is $120.

·         Ferris Wheel (Grade 5): Students build a Ferris wheel and develop a series of programs to solve different design challenges. Program cost is $120.

Kopernik staff can work with your school or district to develop a program tailored to your curriculum, schedule, and budget. Cost for each program is $120 per section of 24 students.

Light and Shadows, consist of two to four programs. Light and Shadows is best as an on-site experience at the Kopernik campus to allow for access to the observatory telescopes.  The program can be adapted to support school-based experiences.  The rotations in this unit provide students with an age-appropriate experiential understanding of the properties of light aligned to the following NGSS standards:

• 1-PS4-2. Make observations (firsthand or from media) to construct an evidence-based account that objects can be seen only when illuminated. 

• 1-PS4-3. Plan and conduct an investigation to determine the effect of placing objects made with different materials in the path of a beam of light. 

• 1-PS4-4. Use tools and materials to design and build a device that uses light or sound to solve the problem of communicating over a distance.

• 1-ESS1-1. Use observations of the Sun, moon, and stars to describe patterns that can be predicted. 

Students engage if a variety of hands on activities to explore “blocking,” “bouncing,” and “bending” light beams:

• “Blocking” light beams:  Students explore how shadows are created by the relationship between an object and a beam of light. 

• “Bouncing” light beams: Students explore the ways in which light bounces or is reflected off of surfaces. They explore the ways in which mirrors can change the path of a light beam. (Reflection)

• “Bending” light beams:  Students explore the ways in which lenses bend light to change the shape of objects. (Refraction)

In planning Light and Shadows for your school or class, you can select from four programs. Light and Shadows is best as an on-site experience at the Kopernik campus but can be adapted for presentation at a school location. Kopernik staff can work with your school or district to develop a program tailored to your curriculum, schedule, and budget. Each program is designed for sections of 24 students and costs $120.

Students will tour the night sky using Kopernik’s room-sized portable planetarium to experience what astronomers can see through telescopes. They will understand that constellations are patterns that astronomers use to understand the stars in the sky. Astronomers see these objects because they give off light or reflect light. Students will tour the observatory domes, and see the large telescopes that are used to look at the sky. Cost (Kopernik Campus): $120 per section of 24 students through BOCES. Cost (School location): $270 for the first hour and $120 for every additional hour (direct pay to Kopernik)

A telescope uses mirrors and lenses to make far away objects visible to us.  In an activity called the “telescope petting zoo” students explore the different parts of a telescope and how these parts work together in a large, refracting telescope they can use. This activity coordinates with the programs, “How does light move?” and “What is a shadow?” to look at how bending and “bouncing” light beams are used by telescopes to look at celestial objects. Cost: $120 per section of 24 students.

Light travels in a straight line. But light can be reflected and bent so it can go in different directions. Using a laser, we make visible to students the way a light beam travels and refracts or “bounces” off different surfaces. Students will explore the property of refraction for themselves as they work in teams to move a light beam through an obstacle course to a target using an array of mirrors. Cost: $120 per section of 24 students.

A shadow is formed when light is blocked by an opaque object. Students will explore designing and drawing shadows using three dimensional objects and a fixed light source. Students will experience and document the transformation of a shape based on its positioning in a beam of light. Cost: $120 per section of 24 students

In planning Earth Systems: Processes that Shape the Earth for your school or class, you can select from four programs. Each program presents hands-on explorations in understanding the different processes that form and reform the earth’s surface.  The programs provide students with an age-appropriate experiential understanding of the geologic processes aligned to the following NGSS standards:

• 2-ESS1-1. Use information from several sources to provide evidence that Earth events can occur quickly or slowly.

• 2-ESS2-1. Compare multiple solutions designed to slow or prevent wind or water from changing the shape of the land.

• 2-ESS2-2. Develop a model to represent the shapes and kinds of land and bodies of water in an area. 

• 2-ESS2-3. Obtain information to identify where water is found on Earth and that it can be solid or liquid

In planning Earth System: Processes that Shape the Earth for your school or class, you can select from four programs. Earth System: Processes that Shape the Earth is best as an on-site experience at the Kopernik campus to allow for access to the observatory’s stream tables and portable planetarium. Kopernik staff can work with your school or district to develop a program tailored to your curriculum, schedule, and budget. Each program is designed for sections of 24 students and costs $120.

How can water change the land?  In this activity, students compare multiple solutions designed to slow or prevent wind or water from changing the shape of the land.  In this lesson, students experiment with stream tables to explore ways water can change land forms and study the effect of water on land.  It aligns to the cross-cutting concepts of stability and changes, and patterns in the natural world that can be observed. Students will work in groups creating and eroding land forms using full size stream tables. They will explore the influence of flowing water on landforms, experiment with erosion resistant designs, and identify patterns of erosion. Cost: $120 per section of 24 students

How do glaciers change the shape of the land? In this activity, students use information from several sources to provide evidence that Earth events can occur quickly or slowly.  The big idea for this lesson is, glaciers have drastically changed and shaped our land for over thousands of years. This aligns to the NGSS cross-cutting concept, “Stability and Change”- things may change slowly or rapidly. It also focuses on the science and engineering practices of understanding and developing models, and obtaining and evaluating, communicating information. Students will be able to observe, diagram and note how glaciers can change the land using a model. Cost: $120 per section of 24 students.

Students will participate in hands-on robotic programs designed to be age appropriate. Students will create a robotic swing to investigate motion, energy, stability, forces, and interactions. Students are What can models tell us about landforms? In this activity, students develop a model to represent the shapes and kinds of land and bodies of water in an area. Students will create a diagram of an imaginary island to incorporate landforms and bodies of water. The students will use symbols and a key to complete their diagram.  Using this diagram, students will create a 3-D model of their island on a paper plate using clay or playdoh and labeling the landforms and water with flags.  Cost: $120 per section of 24 studentsan engineering design challenge to extend their thinking and build upon the initial design. The program requires one hour to complete and the cost is $120. 

Do other planets have mountains and valleys? What does the surface of other planets look like? The planetarium show would focus on learning about the physical features of the planets in our solar system, that would extend students understanding of land forms, while also reinforcing G.1 standards in space systems. After the planetarium show, students tour the observatory’s domes. Cost (Kopernik Campus): $120 per section of 24 students through BOCES. Cost (School location): $270 for the first hour and $120 for every additional hour (direct pay to Kopernik).

The Kopernik program, Forces and Motion consists of three programs offering active hands-on experiences in understanding the ways in which the forces of gravity and magnetism interact with objects to create motion. The programs in this unit provide students with an age-appropriate experiential understanding of the aligned to the NGSS standards on Motion and Stability: Forces and Interactions.

·         3-PS2-1. Plan and conduct an investigation to provide evidence of the effects of balanced and unbalanced forces on the motion of an object.

·         3-PS2-2. Make observations and/or measurements of an object’s motion to provide evidence that a pattern can be used to predict future motion.

·         3-PS2-3. Ask questions to determine cause and effect relationships of electric or magnetic interactions between two objects not in contact with each other.

·         3-PS2-4. Define a simple design problem that can be solved by applying scientific ideas about magnets.

In planning Forces and Motion for your school or class, you can select from three programs. Forces and Motion is best as an on-site experience at the Kopernik campus but can be adapted for presentation at a school location. Kopernik staff can work with your school or district to develop a program tailored to your curriculum, schedule, and budget. Each program is designed for sections of 24 students and costs $120.

What can playgrounds teach us about the laws of physics? In this activity, students explore physics on the playground as they rotate through three stations on the Kopernik Space Park. The students experience the cause and effects of forces and motion, make predictions, and draw conclusions using the swings, slides, and see saw. Students are introduced to the Engineering Design Process. Comparable indoor lessons will be provided in case of inclement weather.  Cost: $140 per section of 24 students.

Why do opposites attract? In this activity, students explore magnetism through hands-on experiences. They will learn how magnetic forces act to create motion and how this motion is used in engineering design. Concepts explored in depth are magnetic polarity and the forces of attraction and repulsion. Cost: Cost: $120 per section of 24 students.

What’s the best design for a hole-in-one? In this activity, students participate in hands-on robotic design and programming. Students create a robotic mini-mini golf course to investigate motion, stability, forces, and interactions. After the initial set up and construction, students are presented with an engineering challenge designed to extend their thinking and promote problem solving and creativity.  Cost: $120 per section of 24 students.

The Kopernik program, Waves and Motion is anchored in the energy and matter crosscutting concept that “energy can be transferred in various ways and between objects.”   This program consists of between two and four rotations. The rotations in Waves and Motion explore how wave energy occurs in the form of light waves, seismic waves, and sound waves. It promotes an understanding of waves as the way in which energy is transferred between objects, or converted from one form of energy into another. Students explore different types of models of waves to describe wave patterns and to demonstrate waves as a force of motion. The rotations in this unit provide students with an age-appropriate experiential understanding of the aligned to the NGSS standards on Energy and Waves: and Information:

·         4-PS4-1. Develop a model of waves to describe patterns in terms of amplitude and wavelength and that waves can cause objects to move.

·         4-PS3-1. Use evidence to construct an explanation relating the speed of an object to the energy of that object.

·         4-PS3-2. Make observations to provide evidence that energy is conserved as it is transferred and/or converted from one form to another.

·         4-PS3-3. Ask questions and predict outcomes about the changes in energy that occur when objects collide.

·         4-PS3-4. Apply scientific ideas to design, test, and refine a device that converts energy from one form to another.

In planning Waves and Motion for your school or class, you can select from four programs. Waves and Motion is best as an on-site experience at the Kopernik campus but can be adapted for presentation at a school location. Kopernik staff can work with your school to develop a program tailored to your curriculum, schedule, and budget. Each rotation is designed for sections of 24 students and costs $120.

How do seismic waves affect a built structure? In this activity, students explore that way in which seismic waves impact built structures. Students work in teams to engineer a structure. Using a specially designed seismic table, students test their structure by exposing it to lateral (back and forth) and vertical (up and down) seismic waves. This activity includes an overview of plate tectonics to support an understanding seismic activity. Cost: $120 per section of 24 students.

Is there light we can’t see? In this activity, students explore the properties of light and an understanding of the electromagnetic spectrum to compare “visible” light that can be seen by the human eye and infrared light, visible to some insects and animals, and through specialized devices. Students learn about infrared light and its applications in daily life. Cost: $120 per section of 24 students.

What do sound waves look like? In this activity, students explore sound phenomena as a form of mechanical energy that can be seen and felt. Students look at the way in which sound is converted from mechanical energy to electrical energy so it can be carried over distances. Cost: $120 per section of 24 students.

Students will participate in hands-on robotic programs designed to be age appropriate. Students will create a robotic mini-mini golf hole to investigate motion, stability, forces, and interactions and explore the relationship between potential and kinetic energy. After the initial set up and construction, students are presented with an engineering challenge designed to extend their thinking and promote problem solving and creativity. Cost: $120 per section of 24 students.

The Kopernik program, Earth Systems: Processes that Shape the Earth focuses on geologic processes. The programs in this unit provide students with an age-appropriate experiential understanding of the aligned to the NGSS standards on Earth Systems:

·         4-ESS1-1. Identify evidence from patterns in rock formations and fossils in rock layers to support an explanation for changes in a landscape over time.

·         4-ESS2-1. Make observations and/or measurements to provide evidence of the effects of weathering or the rate of erosion by water, ice, wind, or vegetation.

·         4-ESS2-2. Analyze and interpret data from maps to describe patterns of Earth’s features.

·         4-ESS3-2. Generate and compare multiple solutions to reduce the impacts of natural Earth processes on humans.

In planning Earth Systems: Processes that Shape the Earth for your school or class, you can select from five programs. Earth Systems: Processes that Shape the Earth is best as an on-site experience at the Kopernik campus but can be adapted for presentation at a school location. Kopernik staff can work with your school or district to develop a program tailored to your curriculum, schedule, and budget. Each program is designed for sections of 24 students and costs $120.

How do seismic waves affect a built structure? In this activity, students explore that way in which seismic waves impact built structures. Students work in teams to engineer a structure. Using a specially designed seismic table, students test their structure by exposing it to lateral (back and forth) and vertical (up and down) seismic waves. This activity includes an overview of plate tectonics to support an understanding seismic activity. Cost: $120 per section of 24 students.

How does water form and transform the earth’s surface?  Using stream tables students experiment with the ways in which water interacts with land features to create rivers, valleys and estuaries. They will explore the influence of flowing water on landforms, experiment with erosion resistant designs, and identify patterns of erosion. Cost: $120 per section of 24 students.

What can the rocks we see tell us about the processes that shape the earth? In this activity, students identify and examine the three types of rock -- sedimentary, igneous, and metamorphic – as clues to the earth processes that created them.  Cost: $120 per section of 24 students.

What causes earthquakes? In this activity, students create models of different kinds of plate boundaries to understand how earthquakes occur. This activity extends the key understanding that the Earth sits on large moveable plates. Earthquakes are caused by the movement of these tectonic plates. Students describe what may happen when plate boundaries meet (e.g., earthquakes, tsunami, faults, mountain building) and discover the connection between volcanoes and earthquakes as they graph data on a map of the Ring of Fire along the Pacific Rim.  Cost: $120 per section of 24 students.

What can the rocks we see tell us about the Do other planets have mountains and valleys? What does the surface of other planets look like? The planetarium show would focus on learning about the physical features of the planets in our solar system, that would extend students understanding of land forms, while also reinforcing G.1 standards in space systems. After the planetarium show, students would tour the observatory’s domes. Cost (Kopernik Campus): $120 per section of 24 students through BOCES. Cost (School location): $270 for the first hour and $120 for every additional hour (direct pay to Kopernik).  that shape the earth? In this activity, students identify and examine the three types of rock -- sedimentary, igneous, and metamorphic – as clues to the earth processes that created them.  Cost: $120 per section of 24 students.

This program is an in-depth experience that extends students capacity to identify stars according to their brightness, ages, and position in the night sky. Learning about start brightness, students will see this as a relationship between the life cycle of a star and its distance from the Earth.  Learning about constellations, students will see and be able to identify the seasonal patterns of stars that occur in the night sky. This program also introduces students to the science of spectroscopy to answer the question, how do we know what stars are made of?

·         5-PS2-1. Support an argument that the gravitational force exerted by Earth on objects is directed down.

·         5-ESS1-1. Support an argument that differences in the apparent brightness of the Sun compared to other stars is due to their relative distances from Earth.

·         5-ESS1-2. Represent 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.

In planning Space Systems: Stars and the Solar System for your school or class, you can select from four programs. Space Systems: Stars and the Solar System is best as an on-site experience at the Kopernik campus but can be adapted for presentation at a school location. Kopernik staff can work with your school or district to develop a program tailored to your curriculum, schedule, and budget. Each program is designed for sections of 24 students and costs $120.

In this program students explore the dynamics of stars in the night sky. They learn about constellations, and how constellations change through the seasons. Students distinguish between the movements of rotation and revolution related to the circumpolar progression of stars and constellations across the sky. Students will learn how to create and use Star Wheels to collect, analyze and interpret data about the seasonal appearance of constellations in the night sky and be able to answer the guiding question: “Why do we see different constellations each season?” They will also participate in a physical model to understand why some constellations are only visible during certain seasons. Cost: $120 per section of 24 students.

How do we understand and learn about distant objects? In this activity, students learn about star classifications and the life cycle of a star. Students will learn the ways to classify stars, and explore differences in the apparent brightness of the Sun when compared to other stars is the galaxy. Cost: $120 per section of 24 students.

How do astronomers understand and classify distant stars? In this introduction to spectroscopy, students will use spectroscopes to learning about the spectral properties of gases. Students will use spectroscopes to observe spectrum tubes, glass filled tubes containing various elemental gases to see how scientists tell different gases apart. With this experience, students learn to how this process of spectroscopy was used by early astronomers to learn about what stars are made of and the life cycle of stars.  Cost: $120 per section of 24 students.

What is the relationship between stars and galaxies? How can constellations help us read the night sky? This planetarium experience extends the learning of the program with a virtual tour of the universe, and visits to galaxies and stars. Combined with this activity is either a tour of the observatory scopes, or an introduction to the Stellarium web-based software. Cost (Kopernik Campus): $120 per section of 24 students through BOCES. Cost (School location): $270 for the first hour and $120 for every additional hour (direct pay to Kopernik).