Children Study the Night's Sky with Skydome Planetarium
By Katie L. Mortimer
July 4, 2012
429
David Killion stood inside a large inflatable dome. Children of all ages were gathered around him, sitting on the ground, their eyes glimmering with curiosity. Knowledge about a new subject soaked into their minds. They listened intently with their parents. They wanted to know more about Astronomy: the scientific study of our Universe.
On Monday, July 2, Wayne Center for the Arts opened its doors to the Skydome Planetarium. It was an educational program invited to Wooster by the Wayne County Public Library. It was fun-filled way for the children of Wayne County to escape the blistering heat.
In addition to being informative, it was a nice thing to do on a hot afternoon. Joy Kleinhenz said, with her five year old daughter Megan standing beside her. They had just attended one of the six shows that day.
Kleinhenz was a regular patron of the Wayne County Public Library. She liked bringing her daughter to all the educational programs she could. To have something like this come to Wooster is great, because otherwise Id have to drive to the planetarium in Cleveland. She said that it was a fun and interesting program. I thought that the presenter was phenomenal. He had tons of knowledge. Actually I learned some things that I probably knew and forgot.
The Skydome Planetarium came to Wooster and folks through the Friends of the Library were able to experience a tour of our Universe, our Solar System, and the constellations of the nights sky. Killion said summarizing about what the day was about.
Killion, the presenter of Skydome Planetarium, was from Mobile Ed Productions, based outside of Detroit, Michigan. During the school year I go all over the Eastern US, from Texas to Minnesota to East Coast, Massachusetts, down to Georgia, Tennessee, back up to Michigan and everything in between. He said about his travels.
Mobile Ed Productions was founded 32 years ago by a stage magician who wanted to educate, as well as entertain, the children of society. The company has specialized in educational programs for schools, and has three dozen sites traveling across the United States during the school year.
Theres living history, other reading and creative writing, and math enrichment, and character building, and anti-bully stuff. Theyve got all kinds of programs. Killion explained about the different topics that the company enriches children with. I do Skydome Planetarium, I also do Mobile Eds Earthdome Globe which is a nice inflatable globe made from satellite photographs to recite geography.
Its a fun way to learn. The kids love it. Killion added.
Kleinhenz and her daughter planned to take what they learned home with them. "You can actually go home, get out a telescope or binoculars and look at the sky. Because its summer. Its kind of a nice way to do something thats educational for everybody. She also planned to continue attending more programs that the Wayne County Public Library had to offer. I think its an important thing for kids to do in the summer as well as having fun and playing in a playground, its nice to get information as well. Its a great way to do that.
For more information about the Wayne County Public Library, and how to get involved in programs for all ages, visit their webpage at http://www.wcpl.info.