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In-person presentations and virtual requests accepted!
Interactive SPOT presentations utilize slides, videos, animations and an inquisitive approach to relay the excitement of new discoveries! Green Bank Observatory and NASA research along with careers located in West Virginia are highlighted in each show.
Presentations can be held in a classroom or assembly setting. A screen or blank wall and an electrical outlet are necessary for all presentations. Schools/ organizations may need to also provide projectors and/or audio speakers, though these items can be acquired if we know they will not be available at the location of the presentation in advance.
Each show lasts approximately 45 minutes, with optional hands-on activities that require more time.
You can also bring your students to us! Receive presentations and activities at any of our participating colleges or universities! These campuses also offer a planetarium show:
West Virginia University
Marshall University
WV Wesleyan College
Ask about the option to receive a presentation virtually through Teams, Zoom, or Google Hangouts.
We have K-3 specific presentations for many of our presentations!
We have K-3 specific presentations for many of our presentations!
Feature Presentations
Feature Presentations
Our presentations are designed for 4th-12th grade audience. However, we strive to meet the needs of all audiences!
Our presentations are designed for 4th-12th grade audience. However, we strive to meet the needs of all audiences!
Presentations with an asterisk* have a K-3 version available.
Presentations with an asterisk* have a K-3 version available.
*Satellite Solutions in West Virginia
*Satellite Solutions in West Virginia
Describes the suprisingly dynamic environment surrounding Earth and how Satellites are constantly pushed, pulled, and dragged along in orbit. We have piloted this show with elementary audiences and they love it! Older audiences will go in depth understanding how space scientists, like WVU professor, Dr. Piyush Mehta, use math, physics, lab experiments, and telescopes to monitor space weather conditions and adjust satellite orbits to protect satellites from collisions.
*Finding Stellar Explosions
*Finding Stellar Explosions
Sends students on a mission to help Dr. Loren Anderson catalogue invisible space bubbles as supernova remnants or star-forming regions! Starting from a familiar view of the night sky and identifying constellations, this show builds on the historical record from a thousand years when people on Earth documented a "guest star," which we only learned in the era of modern astronomy was a stellar explosion, also known as a supernova! How do we find these supernova remnants, tell them apart from other nebulae, and build up our map of our galaxy the Milky Way? This show is designed for 8th-12th graders and includes a demonstration using the robotic, 20-meter telescope located at Green Bank Observatory.
NGSS Connections:
Grades 9-12 Nature of Science: Scientific knowledge is obtained through a combination of observations of the natural world and inferences based on those observations
Grades 9-12 Science Connection Concepts: Observing patterns
Grades 9-12 Practices of Scientists and Engineers: Analyzing and interpreting data
Cosmic Detectives
Cosmic Detectives
"The universe is filled with things that go flash in the night." Astronomers are puzzled by a whole new class of cosmic phenomena called Fast Radio Bursts. Why are these bursts so powerful? Where do they come from? What causes them? How do we detect them? Analyze clues with the Greenburst Team of WVU radio astronomers to help crack the case!
The Power of Luminescence
The Power of Luminescence
Coming October 2025!
Past Presentations
Past Presentations
Can still be requested!
Can still be requested!
The International Space Station
The International Space Station
Best for middle school audiences and above.
Best for middle school audiences and above.
Unveils what it takes to live in space and the engineering required to build a station in space. What is it like to be an astronaut? How do daily activities change when you're traveling 5 miles per second?! What does the future of space travel look like?
*Water: The Source of Life
*Water: The Source of Life
Best for middle school audiences and above.
Best for middle school audiences and above.
Emphasizes all the ways in which we utilize freshwater and the importance of maintaining clean sources of water. West Virginia is home to over 32,000 miles of stream, and pollutants we put into these streams ultimately impact the drinking water for millions of people across the United States of America. How much freshwater exists on planet earth? How many miles of stream in West Virginia have been impacted by various pollutants? Can we remedy polluted waterways? Why is it important for us to clean up and maintain freshwater sources? Learn the answers to all these questions and discover the importance of West Virginia water with this presentation!
NGSS Connections:
ESS2.CMost of Earth's water is in the ocean and much of Earth's freshwater is in glaciers or underground.
S.2.GS.11: Obtain information to identify where water is found on Earth and that it can be solid or liquid.
S.5.GS.8: Develop a model using an example to describe ways the geosphere, biosphere, hydrosphere, and/or atmosphere interact.
S.5.GS.9: Describe and graph the amounts and percentages of water and fresh water in various reservoirs to provide evidence about the distribution of water on Earth.
S.5.GS.10: Obtain and combine information about ways individual communities use science ideas to protect the Earth’s resources and environment.
S.8.ESS.1: Construct an argument supported by evidence for how increases in human population and per-capita consumption of natural resources impact Earth’s systems.
S.HS.ENV.6: Explain how technology has influenced the sustainability of natural resources over time.
S.HS.ENV.18: Identify sources, uses, quality, conservation, and global distribution of water.
S.HS.ENV.22: Examine legislation associated with the protection of water: Clean Water Act.
“NANOGrav: Tuning into Einstein’s Universe”
“NANOGrav: Tuning into Einstein’s Universe”
Best for high school and above.
Best for high school and above.
Highlights NANOGrav, a collaboration of researchers around the country, including at West Virginia University, who study Einstein's predicted "gravitational waves." It builds on the history of astronomy from Galileo’s time to show how gravity can open a whole new window to our understanding of the universe. How are gravitational waves made? How do we use pulsars to detect them? How can you become involved? For this presentation a graduate student researcher from West Virginia University's pulsar and black hole group will visit your school.
Hands-on Activities
Hands-on Activities
You can request our team to only lead interactive hands-on activities or you can supplement your presentation with any of the activities below!
You can request our team to only lead interactive hands-on activities or you can supplement your presentation with any of the activities below!
Most of our activities can be scaled up to include more complex topics for older audiences or can be focused on key concepts for younger students. Each activity is designed for groups of 30 or fewer and some can be adapted for STEM Nights or drop in/rotation type events.
Most of our activities can be scaled up to include more complex topics for older audiences or can be focused on key concepts for younger students. Each activity is designed for groups of 30 or fewer and some can be adapted for STEM Nights or drop in/rotation type events.
Please note, time required for each activity varies and is listed next to each option.
Please note, time required for each activity varies and is listed next to each option.
Any teachers present may be asked to assist the Ambassador(s) with aspects of the activity such as hand-out materials, repeat instructions, etc.
Any teachers present may be asked to assist the Ambassador(s) with aspects of the activity such as hand-out materials, repeat instructions, etc.
(45 minutes)
Use cardboard and craft supplies to build your own satellite, then test how well your design can withstand simulated space weather!
Good for middle school and older. Best with Satellite Solutions in West Virginia.
Standards
S.3.GS.1: Students will plan and conduct an investigation to provide evidence of the effects of balanced and unbalanced forces on the motion of an object.
S.7.PS.7: Students will plan an investigation to provide evidence that the change in an object’s motion depends on the sum of the forces on the object and the mass of the object.
HS-PS2-4: Gravitational and Electrostatic Forces Between Objects
(60-90 minutes)
The Green Bank Telescope (GBT) is the largest steerable structure on land. How do engineers balance cost, materials, and weight to make such a strong and durable telescope? Practice building your own tall structure that can hold weight with spaghetti, gum drops, and marshmallows!
Good for middle school and older. Best with Finding Stellar Explosions and Cosmic Detectives.
NGSS MS-PS1 Matter and its Interactions Crosscutting Concepts: Structure and Function. Experiment with structural materials (ex: spaghetti, gumdrops, marshmallows, toothpicks) and shapes (ex: triangles, squares)
Crosscutting Concept: Scale, Proportion, and Quantity. Discuss how the challenges faced in designing a structure might scale to other materials and larger structures.
NGSS MS-PS2 Motion and Stability: Forces and Interactions Crosscutting Concepts: Structure and Function. Design and test structures that will remain stable and support weight (i.e. as sand is added to the top of the structure).
Science and Engineering Practices: Constructing Explanations and Designing Solutions. Compare and contrast the effectiveness of other groups’ designs; offer explanations for why the GBT designs functioned as they did.
NGSS MS-ETS1-1 Engineering Design Cross Cutting Concepts: Influence of Engineering, Technology, and Science on Society and the Natural World. Discuss the purposes of building a large structure that can hold weight. Compare to construction of the Green Bank Telescope.
Disciplinary Core Idea ETS1.A: Defining and Delimiting Engineering Problems. Plan construction of a structure with material, height, strength, time, and cost constraints.
(30 minutes)
Learn how diligent and careful computer programmers needs to be to get a robot like Curiosity or the arm on the International Space Station to follow directions. Program your own code for a robot arm to stack cups!
Good for middle school and older. Best with Satellite Solutions in West Virginia and The International Space Station.
(5-15 minute demonstration)
Be a radio astronomer for a minute using Green Bank Observatory's 20-meter telescope! An undergraduate student will login to the telescope's control platform and your students will get to select an object to observe in radio wavelengths! Watch in real time as the telescope begins tracking the object on the sky decide whether your object produces radio waves or not!
Good for 8th grade (13 year olds) and older. Best with Finding Stellar Explosions, Cosmic Detectives, and NANOGrav: Tuning into Einstein's Universe.
Standards:
College and Career-Readiness Indicators for Science
Scientific investigations use a variety of methods to address questions about the natural and material world
Planning and carrying out investigations
Analyzing and interpreting data
Obtaining, evaluating, and communicating information
Appropriately using technical terminology or scientific concepts and processes to create visually expressed information.
Observing patterns.
Earth & Space Science
S.7.12 Ask questions about data to determine the factors that affect the strength of electric and magnetic forces.
S.ESS.3 Use at least two different formats (e.g., oral, graphical, textual, mathematical) to communicate scientific ideas about the way stars, over their life cycle, produce elements.
Awesome Absorption
Awesome Absorption
(5-15 minute demonstration. 30 minute activity)
Explore osmosis and its applications in biomedical research through this wild and wonderful activity involving food coloring, water, "fake snow", and salt!
Good for all ages. Best with The Power of Luminescence.
(5 minute demonstration, 20-30 minute activity)
Students will create their own bracelet or key chain (age dependent) using beads that change colors after absorbing the Sun's energy! We love these "sunscreen reminders" and your students will too!
Can be done as an activity or quick demonstration about how light is energy, how sunscreen works, and how the Electromagnetic Spectrum is so much more than our eyes can see!
Good for all ages. Best with Satellite Solutions in West Virginia and The Power of Luminescence
Luminescence Demo
Luminescence Demo
(5-10 minute demonstration)
Good for all ages. Best with The Power of Luminescence.
Discover photo-luminescence and some common liquids and solutions that GLOW!
(15-30 minutes)
A new take on the old card game war! Learn about the different types of light. Longest wavelength wins!
Good for all ages.
Best with Finding Stellar Explosions and Cosmic Detectives
(20-30 minutes)
Fold register tape to map out the relative distances between the orbits of the planets! This is a fun, easy, and quick activity.
Good for K-6.
NGSS MS-ESS1 Earth’s Place in the Universe, Science and Engineering Practices: Developing and Using Models. Use paper folding to predict and construct a scale model for orbital radius of planets in the solar system. Discuss pros and cons of the model.
Disciplinary Core Ideas: ESS1.B Earth and the Solar System. Determine how the planets and the asteroid belt are distributed throughout the solar system.
Crosscutting Concepts: Scale, Proportion, and Quantity. Discuss proportion and scale between model and reality for the relative distance of solar system objects.
CCSS Mathematics 6.RP.A.1 Understand the concept of a ratio and use ratio language to describe a ration relationship between two quantities. Use ratio language to answer questions such as: If the paper is divided into 16ths and folded in half one more time, what fraction will each segment represent?
(30 minutes)
Astronomers have found hundreds of other worlds. How would another life form adapt to environments with different surfaces, temperatures, atmospheres, and gravity? This is your chance to get creative!
Good for K-5.
(5 minute demonstration. 30 minute activity)
How much of the Earth's water supply is freshwater? Where does the Earth keep this freshwater? How can our state's freshwater reservoirs impact the nation? Students will use 1000 mL of water to represent all water on Earth. They will then divide the 1000 mL into the relative amounts found within each of Earth's major reservoirs. The relative amounts can be given to the students (younger groups), or the students can be required to calculate amounts in each reservoir (older groups).
Good for all ages. Included as a demo in Water: The Source of Life or can be hosted as a standalone demo or activity to incorporate real world percentages and fractions problems.
NGSS S.2.GS.11: Obtain information to identify where water is found on Earth and that it can be solid or liquid.
NGSS S.5.GS.9: Describe and graph the amounts and percentages of water and fresh water in various reservoirs to provide evidence about the distribution of water on Earth.
NGSS S.HS.ENV.18: Identify sources, uses, quality, conservation, and global distribution of water.
(30 minutes)
What is a watershed? Where does our water come from? Where does it go? How do our daily lives impact the watershed(s) we live in? Students will ‘build’ their own watershed by balling up newspapers to create mountains, valleys, and lakes. A plastic table cloth will be placed over top of the landscape structure and props, representing various land use activities, will be placed throughout the watershed. Students will then simulate rainfall and observe how the rainwater washes various pollutants into downstream systems.
Good for all ages. Best with "Water: The Source of Life" presentation.
NGSS S.5.GS.8: Develop a model using an example to describe ways the geosphere, biosphere, hydrosphere, and/or atmosphere interact.
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