PARKERSBURG, W.Va. (WTAP) – Education Outreach Specialist for the NASA IV&V Education Resource Center in Fairmont, W.Va., Dr. Josh Revels, visited Jefferson Elementary Thursday to train elementary school teachers from Jefferson, Franklin, and Emerson Elementaries how to utilize NASA’s portable space lab known as “STARLAB.”
Dr. Revels says that STARLAB is a portable planetarium made up of an inflatable dome, computer, and a projector.
With this tool, students can learn more about space science, stars, planets, and plate tectonics.
Dr. Revels explains that “…you [can] project an actual representation of the stars in the dome, so students will get to look at the nighttime sky during the daytime and so it’s a great way to help students learn astronomy without having to stay up really late to do it.”
Jefferson Elementary will be the first school in the Mid-Ohio Valley Region to utilize STARLAB.
This is something that Assistant Principal for Curriculum and Instruction at Jefferson Elementary, Cindy Oxender, is very thrilled about.
Oxender feels that students will carry this unique educational opportunity with them through the rest of their learning career.
“It’s something that we feel our students will treasure and remember throughout the rest of their school career as this is a hands-on opportunity to learn a little bit more about science, astronomy, plate tectonics. There are so many opportunities via the STARLAB.”
The STARLAB will be at Jefferson Elementary for one complete week where students there can experience all that the portable planetarium has in store for them.
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