People look up at the sky and dream of touching the stars. Students at Bloomfield Elementary were able to get close to that. This is because a Mobile Planetarium made a stop at Bloomfield School’s FEMA building.
“I love it, I love it, it’s great,” said science educator and program presenter Lucia Brimer, when asked about the kids’ excitement during the program.
“I think there are two things to me in science that seem to excite kids,” said Brimer. “Those are space and dinosaurs.”
The program was presented by Stars and Science Austin, LLC out of Austin, Texas. An inflated dome was set up in the FEMA building to house the presentation. The dome stood about 13 feet tall and measured about 20 feet across.
Predominantly the company, co-founded by Brimer, operates throughout central Texas and sometimes into west Texas. The company was formed in March 2018 and is purely an outreach program to educate children about science.
Brimer visits Missouri about once a year to visit relatives in the Bloomfield area. Brimer decided that she wanted to bring her presentation to Stoddard County. It was a family member that made the initial contact with the school.
Bloomfield Superintendent Toni Hill said after the school learned of the program they proceeded to research the program. After checking the company’s website, reading reviews and talking individuals familiar with the program the school decided to bring the program to Bloomfield.
Hill stated that the they felt it would give the student a different way to learn and would provide a different educational experience. Hill went on to explain that this gave them a chance to get out of the classroom or view it on a computer. She also stated that the feedback from the kids were very positive and they were super engaged.
Once inside the dome the excitement of the kids could hardly be contained as stars and planets swirled above their heads and around them on the wall of the dome. The kids saw familiar Sesame Street characters Big Bird, Elmo and Hu Hu Zhu.
The characters spoke directly to the students asking them questions providing a connection between the characters on the screen and the students.
Over the course of the two days the dome was at Bloomfield schools many of the students had an opportunity to take part in one of the programs. The younger students watched a movie presentation featuring the Sesame Street characters inside the dome, and older students participated in an interactive program designed for their age group. Students from the elementary school and middle school participated in programs in the dome. Freshmen in physical science, sophomores in biology, juniors and seniors in advanced science classes also participated in special programs.
“I’m proud to work in space, science and astronomy,” said Brimer. “I think it is a cool way to get the kids excited about science.