Science Teaching Methods: Build a Mini Planetarium

Science Teaching Methods: Tall tree silhouette with man silhouette against a dark night sky full of stars

Nov 13, 2024 | Blair H. Lee, M.S.

Science Teaching Methods: How to Build a Mini Planetarium

Blair Lee, M.S.

Hands On Science Teaching Methods

Introducing new science teaching methods can transform the way children understand and engage with scientific concepts. One effective approach is through hands-on projects that bring the wonders of the natural world right into your home.

In this activity, we’ll show you how to create a simple, homemade star projector using everyday materials, offering an engaging way to learn about constellations and the night sky. This project encourages children to use observation and fine motor skills while exploring the stars from the comfort of their own home—perfect for homeschooling families looking to make science both fun and meaningful.

Materials

Shoe box
Scissors
Cardstock
Star chart for your latitude or optional but highly recommended a star map you made while stargazing
Pen or pencil
Pin
Tape
Flashlight
Books

Sciene Teaching Methods: Flat Lay of Items Needed for Mini Planetarium Project: Books, Shoe Box, Pin, Pen, Flash Light, Scissors, Star Chart, Tape, Card Stock

Procedure

1. Remove the lid from shoe box to work on the bottom (lidless) box. On one of the small-sided ends of the bottom box draw a circle the same circumference as the handle end of the flashlight. Cut a hole just big enough for this end of the flashlight to fit into.

2. On the opposite side of the box, cut out a rectangle that is almost that entire section. You just need a small lip to attach the paper to.

Build a Mini Planetarium Project: Hole Cut in Bottom of Shoe Box for Flashlight to Fit Through for Planetarium Project

How to Build a Mini Planetarium: Flash Light in Bottom of Shoe Box for Planetarium Project

How to Build a Mini Planetarium: Hole Cut in Bottom of Shoe Box for Planetarium Project

3. Using the star chart or your star map, draw dots on the card stock showing the stars in your night sky.

4. Poke holes through the dots with a pin.

Science Teaching Methods: Poking Hole Through Star Chart with Pin - Step 3 of How to Make a Mini Planetarium

How to Make a Mini Planetarium: Drawing Dots on Card Stock Using Star Chart

Science Teaching Methods: Poking Holes in Card Stock to Align with Star Chart for Mini Planetarium Activity

5. Put the card stock over the rectangular hole of the box, and tape it in place.

6. Slide the flashlight in from the inside of the box, so that the head of it is in the box. Make sure you can turn the flashlight on and off when the lid is on the box. Support the end of the flashlight that is outside of the box with a stack of books. Put the lid on the box.

How to Build a Mini Planetarium: Card stock with holes poked for stars taped to the open end of the shoe box.

Science Teaching Methods: How to Build a Mini Planetarium - Flash light in show box pointing at star card to demonstrate how mini planetarium projector is to be set up. Flash light handle resting on a book.

How to Make a Mini Planetarium: Mini Planetarium Projector Set-Up: Shoe Box with Lid On, Flashlight Handle Coming Out of Box and Resting on a Book.

7. In a darkened room, turn on the flashlight, and project your constellation onto a wall.

8. Quiz your friends or family to see if they can identify the different constellations.

Science Teaching Methods: How to Make a Mini Planetarium - Star Projection of Andromeda, Pegasus, and the Great Square of Pegasus

How to Make a Mini Planetarium: Star Projection of Aquarius

How to Make a Mini Planetarium: Star Projection of Hercules

Let the Science Fun Continue!

With a few simple materials and some creativity, science teaching methods like this star projector activity can make learning an adventure right in your own home. Not only does this project spark curiosity and excitement, but it also gives children a hands-on way to connect with the night sky and deepen their understanding of astronomy. Activities like these help build critical thinking and observational skills, fostering a love for science that can last a lifetime. So, dim the lights, turn on your projector, and watch your children marvel as they explore the universe from their very own living room!

Not ready for the planetarium fun to come to an end? For those ambitious enough to want a larger and more detailed planetarium build, check out this Build Your Own Planetarium project from Space.com.

Also, be sure to check out The Stargazer’s Notebook for a more in-depth look into the the stars, planets, and celestial objects that occupy our skies.

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August 10, 2017July 31, 2019

Review of R.E.A.L. Science Odyssey Astronomy 2

Aug 10, 2017 | Kat Hutcheson

Review of R.E.A.L. Science Odyssey Astronomy 2

R.E.A.L. Science Odyssey Astronomy 2 from Pandia Press brings top quality secular science into your home or classroom in an engaging hands-on manner. Scientist and author, Blair Lee, has a conversational writing style that opens up serious science topics to students in a way that invites them on a journey through learning. The combination of thorough science education, fun labs and activities, and the author’s ability to share vast amounts of information without overwhelming a novice makes RSO Astronomy 2 an excellent course for both students who love science, and those who do not. The writing style, uncommon for a textbook, paired with the rigorous academic material it teaches allows this course to meet the needs of students throughout the publisher’s recommended 6th – 10th grade range.

The student text for this course functions as textbook, workbook, and lab book all in one, which makes organizing this course quite easy for students, parents, and teachers. The text is divided into three units, each containing four chapters,and a unit exam. In each chapter, students will learn through thought provoking written lessons as they build a solid foundation of science concepts. These lessons are thorough, teaching not only astronomy, but also explaining the chemistry, physics, and math needed to truly understand the material. Students will explore these concepts further with hands-on labs, activities, and scientific models. There is an outstanding focus on scientific modeling woven through the entire course. Students will not only learn how and why scientist use scientific models, but also gain a deeper understanding through using existing working scientific models, as well as creating and developing their own. Some labs in this course require written lab reports, this formulaic writing is an important skill every student should learn. There are also labs with math components, as math and science often go hand in hand. All of the math is clearly explained and examples are given. This is an excellent example for students of how mathematics is applied in subjects beyond their math studies.

Through the twelve part Famous Science Series, students develop and expand research skills while learning interesting history related to astronomy, including topics like famous scientists, scientific discoveries, and space crafts and programs. While the questions in this series will help guide student’s research, how that research is done is left more open ended. This allows you to easily adapt these assignments to the appropriate level for your student. My 9th grader found researching Edwin Hubble for chapter 2, William and Margaret Huggins for chapter 4, and Tycho Brache and Johannes Kepler for chapter 6 quite fascinating. He will be expanding what he learned in the Famous Science Series into more formal research papers on each. The “Show What You Know” section at the end of each chapter gives students a chance to demonstrate the knowledge they’ve gained and provides parents and teachers with a quick and easy way to assess if students have a solid understanding of key concepts. Because each chapter builds on the one prior, this also lets you know if any information should be reviewed before moving on. Doing the “SWYK” section orally led to some long and fascinating conversations in my house.

I have often heard people ask if a teacher’s guide is really necessary, in this case my answer is absolutely yes. The teacher’s guide for RSO Astronomy 2 is so much more than just an answer book. Of course it does include answer keys and lesson reviews, but also guides to help with scheduling, grading, learning goals for each chapter, details on the math used in various labs, and more. Need a more detailed explanation or want to dig deeper into a topic? Each chapter in the teacher’s guide includes lists of books, videos, websites, and/or podcasts to explore. This pair of books provide an exciting and solid astronomy education regardless of your own science background.

R.E.A.L. Science Odyssey Astronomy 2 is presented in a way that is open, inviting, fun, and user friendly for students, parents, and teachers. Yet it never over simplifies or compromises on the quality of the academic material. Whether your students dream of a career exploring the universe or just enjoy gazing at the night sky, upon completion of this course they will have a thorough understanding of the core principles of astronomy and the processes used to develop those principles…and will certainly have some fun while learning it.

Sign up here for a chance to win R.E.A.L. Science Odyssey Astronomy 2 Student and Teacher Guide!
The Winner will be announced September 10, 2017.

Check out our post on observing the Perseid Meteor Shower here.

August 10, 2017July 31, 2019

Observing the Perseid Meteor Shower

Aug 10, 2017 | Blair Lee

Observing the Perseid Meteor Shower

Just imagine your children’s faces when you tell them that you will be waking them at 2 in the morning. When I wrote R.E.A.L. Science Odyssey Astronomy 2, my family and I did our best to observe all special night sky events. We have spent some very special moments communing in the middle of the night. Some of the events themselves fizzled, but every single one was worth viewing together. My family’s favorite night sky viewing events are meteor showers. Meteor showers are the most immediate evidence that we are on a ball hurtling through space at a very high speed!

To understand why there are bright streaks of light during a meteor shower, imagine walking on a very windy day into an area with a lot of loose dirt. As you walk, pieces of dirt will hit the front of your body, because you are moving into the blowing dirt. That is sort of what it is like for Earth during a meteor shower. Meteor showers occur when Earth moves into and through fields of dust and debris. When this dust and debris strikes Earth, which is traveling at 108,000 kilometers per hour, the pieces burn up in Earth’s atmosphere.

The Perseid meteor shower is named for the constellation Perseus where the meteors seem to come from. The debris from the Perseid meteor shower is left over from the comet Swift –Tuttle. As a comet travels it leaves a trail of dust and debris in its path. Swift-Tuttle crosses through Earth’s orbital path every 133 years* leaving dust when it does. Each year when Earth travels through this dust there is a meteor shower. There are recorded observations of the comet Swift-Tuttle in 322 BC, 69 BC, 188, 1737, 1862, and 1992. Swift-Tuttle will be visible from Earth again in 2026. I wonder if the meteor shower is spectacular the year following Swift-Tuttle’s crossing through Earth’s orbital path.

Meteor showers have a lot to offer night sky viewers. If you go out at the right time in the early morning, you will see meteors. You do not need any special equipment to view a meteor shower. They are best viewed with your unaided eye, because you have a wider field of view that way. There is something exciting about watching streaks of light go across the sky.

Check out our post of R.E.A.L. Science Odyssey Astronomy 2 here.

August 18, 2015July 7, 2019

Great Basin National Park, Utah

Aug 18, 2015 | Blair Lee

Great Basin National Park, Utah

This was our viewing spot for the Perseid meteor shower. It was nearly a perfect location. Nice and dark with no light pollution, which is what stargazers call the artificial lights that make it hard to view astronomical events.

We started 10th grade on August 12th, 2015 by getting on the road. It might seem arbitrary to choose a date since we homeschool, but why not? 🙂 When we travel, we include history and science as a part of the journey. Over the next month I will be posting regular science and history information from our trip. Starting with a meteor shower!

There is no more visceral evidence that we are on a ball hurtling through space than a meteor shower. You may occasionally read that the shower is caused by meteors falling to Earth. But what is actually happening is that Earth is traveling through dust left from a comet that passed across the solar system and intersected the Earth’s orbit. Comets are like the Peanut’s character Pigpen, traveling along leaving dust and debris in their wake. Meteor showers happen at the same time every year, because Earth orbits the sun annually along the same path crossing the trail of comet dust in the same place each year.

Earth collides with the debris at speeds up to 72 km per second. The friction between Earth’s atmosphere and the debris causes a burst of light as the debris disintegrates. The best time to view meteor showers is at night. When the sun is shining, its light is so much brighter than the bursts of light from meteors that you cannot see them.

Meteor showers are named for the constellation where they seem to originate. The Perseid meteor shower originates in the constellation Perseus. The Perseid meteor shower occurs from August 11 through August 13.

Can you answer these questions?

1) If Earth is traveling at an average speed of 2,574,720 km per day, how wide is the debris cloud that gives rise to the shower?

2) What is the circumference of Earth at its equator where it is largest?

3) How much larger or smaller is the width of the dust cloud than the circumference of Earth?

*See answers below

Blair Lee M.S. is the the founder of Secular, Eclectic, Academic Homeschoolers. When she’s not busy doing these things, she’s busy writing or working on service projects. She is the author of the critically acclaimed Real Science Odyssey Biology 2 and Chemistry 1, http://www.pandiapress.com/publications/real-science-odyssey/. She is currently working on Astronomy and Earth Science 2 for the series.

(Answers: 1) 7,724,160 km, 2) 40,075 km, 3) 7,684,085 km)

Read about the Charlotte Mason method of homeschooling here.