Dome Discovery Program (Custom Option)

21. Dome Discovery Program (Custom Option)
Length: ~45 minutes (short films + Customized Segment)

Description: A flexible program that combines short films or clips chosen for your group — such as climate change, environmental systems, astronomy, or technology topics — with live demos using our system. This option allows teachers to customize content to meet class goals, blending science with art, humanities, or current issues.

Possible Standards:

  • CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RST.11-12.7: Integrate technical information expressed visually with text.
  • HS-ESS3-1: Analyze geoscience data to forecast natural hazards.
  • HS-ESS3-4: Evaluate or refine technological solutions that reduce human impacts.

Cross-Curricular & Humanities Connections

14. Creative Writing in the Dome (English/Art)
Length: ~45 minutes

Description: Students experience abstract visuals, fractals, and natural imagery projected on the dome, then respond with poetry, prose, or journaling. This session will be customized per session.

Standards:

  • CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.WHST.9-12.3: Write narratives to develop real or imagined experiences.
  • Visual Arts Standards: Respond to and interpret artistic media.

15. Storytelling Under the Stars (ELA/History)
Length: ~45 minutes

Option A: Two Small Pieces of Glass – 🎥

  • Film (20 min): Students learn how telescopes have helped us observe the sky and deepen our understanding of the stars.
  • Live Segment (10–15 min): Explore constellations in Uniview as seen by different cultures (Greek, Ojibwe, Maya, Chinese).
  • Classroom Connection: Writing prompt: “Imagine you lived long ago without modern science. Looking at the stars, what story would you tell to explain them?” Students create their own constellation myth, short story, or poem. Assignment is introduced in the session, and rubric is provided and teachers extend lesson after the visit.

Option B: Legends of the Night Sky: Orion – 🎥

  • Film (25 min): A lively, animated retelling of Orion’s myth introduces constellations through storytelling.
  • Live Segment (10–15 min): See Orion in today’s sky and compare how different cultures interpreted the same stars using Uniview star cultures.
  • Classroom Connection: Research assignment: Each student/group selects a constellation, investigates myths from at least two different cultures, and presents a comparison of how the stories reflect each culture’s values. Rubric is provided and teachers extend lesson after the visit.

Standards:

  • CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.9-10.2: Analyze theme development in literature.
  • CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.WHST.9-12.3: Write narratives to develop real or imagined experiences.
  • HS-ESS1-1: Use observations of celestial patterns to connect cultural and scientific perspectives.

16. Art & Light: Visualizing Music (Art/Music)
Length: ~45 minutes

Description: Dome laser and visualization show exploring color theory, abstraction, and visual storytelling.

Standards:

  • National Core Arts Standards: Analyze, interpret, and respond to visual and performing arts.

17. Math in Motion: Patterns of the Universe (Math/Art)
Length: ~45 minutes

Description: A live dome program exploring fractals, Fibonacci spirals, tilings, and symmetry, with laser and visualization art.

Standards:

  • HS Geometry/Algebra Standards: Apply mathematical concepts to artistic and natural patterns.
  • Mathematical Practices: Reason abstractly and quantitatively.

18. The Unknown Between (Art/Science film) – 🎥
Length: 
~45 minutes (short film + Customized Segment)

Description: A poetic, artistic exploration of space and human perception, designed to provoke reflection and interpretation.

Standards:

  • CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.11-12.7: Analyze multiple interpretations of artistic work.
  • Visual Arts Standards: Interpret meaning in media art.

19. We Choose Space – 🎥
Length:
 ~45 minutes (25 min film + Customized Segment)

Description: Focuses on the history of human spaceflight and JFK’s famous “We choose to go to the moon” speech.

Standards:

  • CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.9-10.6: Analyze an author’s use of rhetoric.
  • HS-ETS1-1: Analyze global challenges for engineering solutions.

20. AI Think, Therefore AI Am (Technology/Philosophy)
Length: ~30–40 minutes (short film + discussion/demo)

Description: A short dome film exploring artificial intelligence, ethics, and self-awareness, paired with guided discussion.

Standards:

  • CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.WHST.11-12.1: Write arguments focused on discipline-specific content.
  • ISTE Standards: Analyze the societal and ethical implications of technology.

Environmental & Earth Systems

11. Habitat Earth – 🎥
Length:
 ~45 minutes (25–30 min film + Customized Segment)

Description: Examines Earth’s ecosystems, networks, and the connections between humans and the natural world.

Standards:

  • HS-LS2-6: Evaluate the claims, evidence, and reasoning that the cycling of matter and flow of energy in ecosystems maintain stability.
  • HS-ESS3-4: Evaluate or refine a technological solution that reduces impacts of human activities on Earth systems.

12. Expedition Reef – 🎥
Length:
 ~45 minutes (27 min film + Customized Segment)

Description: Dives into coral reef ecosystems, exploring their biodiversity, threats, and conservation efforts.

Standards:

  • HS-LS2-6: Analyze the role of biodiversity in ecosystems.
  • HS-ESS3-4: Apply scientific principles to design methods for monitoring and reducing human impacts.

13. Always Above – 🎥
Length:
 ~45 minutes (24 min film + Customized Segment)

Description: Shows how satellites are woven into modern life, from communication and navigation to weather forecasting.

Standards:

  • HS-ESS3-6: Use computational models to illustrate the role of satellites in Earth systems.
  • HS-ETS1-3: Evaluate technological solutions for global challenges.

Astronomy & Physics Deep Dives

7. Spark: The Universe in Us – 🎥
Length:
 ~45 minutes (25 min film + Customized Segment)

Description: Explores how the atoms in our bodies were forged in the cores of stars, connecting cosmic processes to human life.

Standards:

  • HS-PS1-8: Develop models to illustrate the process of nuclear fusion and decay.
  • HS-ESS1-6: Apply scientific reasoning to show that nuclear fusion in stars produces elements.

8. Black Holes: The Other Side of Infinity – 🎥
Length:
 ~45 minutes (25 min film + Customized Segment)

Description: A thrilling journey into black hole science, relativity, and spacetime. Features simulations of stellar collapse and the formation of black holes.

Standards:

  • HS-ESS1-1: Use Kepler’s laws to describe orbits and the role of gravity.
  • HS-PS2-4: Use mathematical representations of Newton’s Law of Gravitation to describe and predict motion.

9. Dark Universe – 🎥
Length:
 ~45 minutes (30 min film + Customized Segment)

Description: Explore modern cosmology, dark matter, and dark energy to understand the universe’s structure and fate. Narrated by Neil deGrasse Tyson.

Standards:

  • HS-ESS1-2: Construct explanations based on evidence for the Big Bang Theory.
  • HS-PS4-2: Evaluate questions about wave/particle duality and light.

10. Hot and Energetic Universe – 🎥
Length:
 ~45 minutes (30 min film + Customized Segment)

Description: Uses X-ray astronomy to explore black holes, galaxy clusters, and high-energy cosmic phenomena.

Standards:

  • HS-ESS1-2: Construct explanations for cosmic structures.
  • HS-PS4-5: Communicate information about electromagnetic radiation across the spectrum.

Core Earth & Space Science

1. Fragile Planet – 🎥
Length:
 ~45 minutes (25 min film + Customized Segment)

Description: Compare Earth with Mars and Venus to see what makes our planet unique and habitable. Highlights atmosphere, magnetic field, and conditions for life.

Standards:

  • HS-ESS1-3: Communicate scientific ideas about the way stars, planetary systems, and Earth form and interact.
  • HS-ESS2-2: Analyze geoscience data to make claims about Earth’s processes.
  • HS-ESS3-6: Use computational models to illustrate Earth’s systems and sustainability challenges.


2. Earthquake: Evidence of a Restless Planet – 🎥
Length: ~45 minutes (26 min film + Customized Segment)

Description: Plate tectonics, seismic activity, and the forces that shape our planet. Includes vivid earthquake and tsunami simulations.

Standards:

  • HS-ESS2-1: Develop a model to illustrate how Earth’s internal and surface processes operate at different spatial and temporal scales.
  • HS-ESS3-1: Construct an explanation based on evidence for how natural hazards affect human activity.
  • HS-ESS2-2: Analyze geoscience data to make claims about Earth’s plate tectonic processes.


3. Force Five – 🎥
Length:
 ~45 minutes (22 min film + Customized Segment)

Description: Explores the science behind tornadoes, hurricanes, blizzards, and extreme storms, emphasizing weather hazards and climate impacts.

Standards:

  • HS-ESS2-4: Use models to describe how variations in the flow of energy into and out of Earth’s systems result in climate change.
  • HS-ESS3-5: Analyze geoscience data and results from climate models to make evidence-based forecasts of climate change impacts.


4. The Sun: Our Living Star – 🎥
Length:
 ~45 minutes (30 min film + Customized Segment)

Description: Examines our Sun’s structure, nuclear fusion, and its critical role in sustaining life on Earth.

Standards:

  • HS-ESS1-1: Develop a model to illustrate the role of nuclear fusion in the Sun’s life cycle.
  • HS-PS3-3: Design, build, and refine a device that works within given constraints by converting one form of energy into another.
  • HS-ESS1-6: Apply scientific reasoning to show that nuclear fusion in stars produces elements.


5. Destination Mars: The New Frontier – 🎥
Length:
 ~45 minutes (30 min film + Customized Segment)

Description: Explores human space exploration efforts, rocket engineering, and Mars as the next frontier. Includes International Space Station connections.

Standards:

  • HS-ESS1-3: Communicate ideas about the role of gravity in planetary motion.
  • HS-ETS1-2: Design solutions to engineering challenges using scientific principles.


6. Back to the Moon for Good – 🎥
Length: 
~45 minutes (25 min film + Customized Segment)

Description: Tells the story of the Google Lunar XPRIZE and the race to return to the Moon with private spacecraft, blending history and innovation.

 Standards:

  • HS-ESS1-3: Explain the relationships among Earth, the Moon, and the solar system.
  • HS-ETS1-1: Analyze a major global challenge to specify criteria and constraints for engineering solutions.