This year, we offer an upgraded experience with a new high definition projector.  The selection of the dome size can be determined based on the location of the digital dome and the group sizes of students. Our largest dome spans 20 feet across, 11 feet high, and can accommodate up to 25 students, teachers, and aides.. The smallest dome is 13 feet across and 9 feet high and can accommodate 15 students and two adults..

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 initial set up is $170.  Each hour of programming is $130.

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, gymnasium or auditorium. Older students can apply trigonometry concepts to calculate the highest height of their rockets. The program requires 40 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 called Stellarium that students can use to identify objects in the sky. Cost: $120 per section of 24 students.

Planning for human habitats in space requires a different way of thinking about construction. This program provides students with an exploration in how advanced 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. $120 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. All Lego® Spike™ Robotics programs accommodate up to 24 students. Cost is $120 per section.

Trained Kopernik educators provide different levels of SPIKE robotics activities, developmentally suited to age and grade level interests and skills. Each activity explores specific dimensions of engineering design and programming:

●       The Perfect Swing (Grades 1-2): This experience introduces students to the concept of a robot as a machine that can complete tasks automatically.  Students create a motorized swing and program it to move in a variety of ways. Students are provided an engineering design challenge to extend their thinking and build upon the initial design.

●       Mini Golf (Grades 3-4):  This experience introduces students to three basic laws of motion. Students create a robotic mini golf course to investigate motion, stability, forces, and interactions. After the initial set up and construction, students are presented with an engineering challenge to extend their thinking and promote problem solving and creativity.

●       Ferris Wheel (Grade 4 and 5): This experience extends students' understanding of simple machines to real world applications.  The Ferris Wheel is an example of a wheel and axle. Students build a Ferris Wheel and develop a series of programs to solve different design challenges.

●       Taxi Taxi (Grade 4 and 5): This experience introduces an open-ended programming challenge. Students build a motorized car and then program it to move through an obstacle course.

●       Big Bus (Grade 5 and 6): This experience introduces students to sensor-based programming. Students build a vehicle that includes a light sensor. Students program the vehicle to perform different movements based on colored objects set in its path.

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 $140 per section of 24 students.

Students will tour the night sky using Kopernik’s room-sized digital 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): $130 per class section for up to 24 students.

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 understand how “bending” and “bouncing” light beams are used by telescopes to look at celestial objects. Cost: $130 per class section for up to 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 class section for up to 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 class section for up to 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: $130 per class section for up to 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, evaluating, communicating information. Students will be able to observe, diagram, and record how glaciers can change the land using a model.  Cost: $120 per class section for up to 24 students.

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 playdough and labeling the landforms and water with flags.  Cost: $120 per class section for up to 24 students.

Do other planets have mountains and valleys? What does the surface of other planets look like? The planetarium show will focus on learning about the physical features of the planets in our solar system, that would extend students' understanding of landforms, while also reinforcing Gr.1 standards in space systems. After the planetarium show, students tour the observatory’s telescope domes. Cost (Kopernik Campus): $130 per class section for up to 24 students.

Perfect Swing: Students create a robotic swing arm to investigate motion, energy, stability, forces, and interactions. Cost: $120 per class section for up to 24 students.

What can playgrounds teach us about the laws of force and motion? In this activity, students explore the physics of playground equipment they commonly use – the slide, see saw, and swing. Students draw on their rich playground experiences to learn about simple machines (lever, inclined plane), devices (pendulum)and the laws of motion that influence their movement.  In this activity, move between three learning stations based on the physics of three playground features: the swing (pendulum), the slide (inclined plane) and the see saw (lever). Cost: $140* per class section for up to 24 students (*requires three educators).

How do magnets create motion?  In this activity, students explore magnetism and the forces of polarity through hands-on experiences. They will learn how magnetic forces act to create motion and how this motion is used in engineering design. Students will experience magnetic levitation and its application to engineering design. Cost: $120 per class section for up to 24 students.

What can robotics teach us about forces and motion? In this activity, students participate in hands-on robotic design and programming. Students create a robotic “mini” mini golf course to investigate the three basic laws of physics. 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 class section for up to 24 students.

How do seismic waves affect a built structure? Students explore how 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 of seismic movements.  Cost: $120 per class section of up to 24 students.

Is there light we cannot 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 class section for up to 24 students.

How do waves create sounds we can hear? 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 class section for up to 24 students.

Taxi Taxi (Grade 4 and 5): This experience introduces an open-ended programming challenge. Students build a motorized car and then program it to move through an obstacle course. Cost: $120 per class section for up to 24 students.

How do seismic waves affect a built structure? In this activity, students explore the ways 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 seismic waves. They evaluate how different designs respond to seismic movement and determine what works best. This activity includes an overview of plate tectonics to support an understanding of seismic activity. Cost: $120 per class section for up to 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 class section for up to 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: $130 per class section for up to 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 class section for up to 24 students.

Do other planets have mountains and valleys? What does the surface of other planets look like? The planetarium show will focus on learning about the physical features of the planets in our solar system as a way to extend students' understanding of landforms.  After the planetarium show, students will tour the observatory’s telescope domes. Cost (Kopernik Campus): $130 per class section for up to 24 students.

Why does the surface of the moon look the way it does? The moon is the first celestial object that students come to see and recognize. In this program, students will learn about the impact craters of the moon. They will create impact craters, and then analyze their results to better understand what they see when they look at the moon with their unaided eye, or with binoculars, and to be able to identify the largest impact craters, including Copernicus, Kepler, and Aristarchus and Tycho. Cost: $120 per class section for up to 24 students.

Where does the water around us go?  Susquehanna River is the longest river on the East Coast flowing 444 miles from New York, through Pennsylvania and into Maryland where it flows into the Chesapeake Bay and the Atlantic Ocean. This program introduces students to the Susquehanna River watershed, and its main local tributaries, the Tioughnioga and Chenango River.  In a hands-on activity, students explore the dynamic  interaction of water and landforms. Cost: $120 per class section for up to 24 students.

Where does the water around us go?  The Delaware River Watershed is the longest free-flowing river in the Eastern United States. Its streams, lakes, rivers, and reservoirs flow into the Delaware Bay, and eventually the Atlantic Ocean.  This program introduces students to the Delaware River Watershed and its importance. In a hands-on activity, students explore the dynamic interaction of water and landforms. Cost: $120 per class section for up to 24 students.

What is surface water?  Using a model, students explore the way in which surface water travels downstream, making its way into streams, lakes,  and rivers.  Students will track how contaminants on the surface are carried downstream. Using a model and maps of landforms, students can see one way human activity impacts the hydrosphere and biosphere. Cost: $120 per class section for up to 24 students.

How are landforms mapped? Contour maps are a critical tool for understanding the ways in which watersheds are carved in the landscape. Students will work with contour maps and elevation models to experience the way in which three dimensional forms can be shown in two dimensions.  Students will study regional contour maps to identify and trace the three critical tributaries that form this region's hydrosphere and geosphere. Cost: $120 per class section for up to 24 students.

The water cycle connects the four earth systems – hydrosphere, geosphere,  atmosphere and biosphere. This workshop consists of two parts and requires classes sizes greater than 16 students to be divided into two groups. Students use VR headsets to explore dimensions of the water cycle and regional water shed.  Students work “offline” to chart the virtual world they explore in the VR headset. Cost: $140 per class section for up to 24 students.

Why do we see different constellations each season? 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 to explain how constellations change with the seasons. Cost: $120 per class section for up to 24 students.

How do astronomers understand and classify distant stars? In this activity, students learn about the different kinds of stars and how they compare to our own star, the Sun. They will learn how the color and size of a star shows what stage of the star life cycle it is in. With this experience, students experience the process of spectroscopy that was used by early astronomers to learn about what stars are made of and the life cycle of stars.  Cost: $120 per class section for up to 24 students.

How can we experience the magnitude of our solar system? In this new program offering, students use virtual reality headsets to tour the solar system and experience a multisensory introduction to the planets and our star, the Sun. Combined with this activity is either a tour of the observatory telescopes, or an introduction to the Stellarium web-based astronomy application.  Maximum 16 students. $140 per group of 16 students.

How can a model best represent astronomical distance? Students create “pocket solar systems” to represent the distances between the planets of the solar system.  Students learn about fundamental differences between the planets, distinguishing between inner terrestrial planets and gas giants. Cost: $120 per class section for up to 24 students.

What are the engineering challenges of planet exploration? Beginning in 1976, the surface of Mars has been explored using increasingly more advanced robotics. Using a room-sized elevation map of Mars surface, students walk across the surface of Mars to learn about the evolution of Mars exploration missions. This is followed by students using augmented reality to select and then drive a Mars rover across the surface of Mars controlled by an iPad. Cost: $120 per class section for up to 24 students.

What is the relationship between stars and galaxies? How can constellations help us read the night sky? This planetarium experience extends the experiences of the Space Systems activities with a virtual tour of the universe and visits to galaxies and stars. Combined with this activity is either a tour of the observatory telescopes, or an introduction to the Stellarium web-based astronomy application. Cost (Kopernik Campus): $130 per class  section for up to 24 students.

This experience introduces students to sensor-based programming. Students build a vehicle that includes a light sensor. Students program the vehicle to perform different movements based on colored objects set in its path. Cost: $120 per class section for up to 24 students.

Explore the Solar System in this interactive virtual reality experience! Hop aboard a spacecraft and tour through our cosmic neighborhood! At any point, enter Zero-Gravity mode to exit your spacecraft and visit the Sun, planets, moons, and more up close. Compare the inner and outer planets and witness the sheer scale of objects in the Solar System.   Maximum 16 students. $140 per group of 16 students. 

How do astronomers understand and classify distant stars? In this activity, students learn about the different kinds of stars and how they compare to our own star, the Sun. They will learn how the color and size of a star shows what stage of the star life cycle it is in. With this experience, students experience the process of spectroscopy that was used by early astronomers to learn about what stars are made of and the life cycle of stars.  Cost: $120 per class section for up to 24 students.

What are the engineering challenges of planet exploration? Beginning in 1976, the surface of Mars has been explored using increasingly more advanced robotics. Using a room-sized elevation map of Mars surface, students walk across the surface of Mars to learn about the evolution of Mars exploration missions. This is followed by students using augmented reality to select and then drive a Mars rover across the surface of Mars controlled by an iPad. Cost: $120 per class section for up to 24 students.

Is a black hole really a hole?  Students are intrigued by the concept of a black hole. This program uses modeling to show students the relationship between gravity and matter to understand what a black hole is, and its place in the life cycle of stars.   Cost: $120 per class section for up to 24 students.

This experience introduces students to sensor-based programming. Students build a vehicle that includes a light sensor. Students program the vehicle to perform different movements based on colored objects set in its path. Cost: $120 per class section for up to 24 students.