HR: 1340h
AN: ED23A-0967    [Abstracts]
TI: Using Planetarium Programs to Teach Climate Change
AU: * Reiff, P H
EM: reiff@rice.edu
AF: Rice Space Institute, 6100 Main St. MS 108, Houston, TX 77005, United States
AU: Sumners, C
EM: reiff@rice.edu
AF: Houston Museum of Natural Science, 1 Herman Circle Dr., Houston, TX 77030, United States
AU: Handron, K
EM: HandronK@CarnegieMNH.Org
AF: Carnegie Museum of Natural History, 4400 Forbes Ave., Pittsburgh, PA 15213, United States
AB: By creating engaging and entertaining fulldome immersive planetarium shows, we are able to "sneak the science in", teaching about climate change on short, long, and extremely long time scales. In our show "Force 5", we talk about the shortest times: not really climate, but weather, including hurricanes, tornadoes, and space storms. Our show "Night of the Titanic" extends the time line to include changes in ocean currents, glaciers, and icebergs on decadal time periods, associated with global warming and changes in the sun. Our show "Dinosaur Prophecy" uses four dinosaur death sites to investigate the long-term changes or events that caused their demise. And finally, in "Lucy's Cradle: the Birth of Wonder" we investigate very long-term changes that spurred human development and migration. In this paper we discuss the techniques of creating planetarium shows and the "Discovery Dome" outreach network which has grown from six sites to 30 sites in 15 states and 7 countries. If space allows, we will demonstrate the shows in a portable dome in the poster session.
UR: http://earth.rice.edu/
DE: 0325 Evolution of the atmosphere (1610, 8125)
DE: 0732 Icebergs
DE: 0815 Informal education
DE: 0845 Instructional tools
SC: Education and Human Resources [ED]
MN: 2007 Fall Meeting