First Graders Make Star Labs To Answer Science Question

Press release from Deer Park School District:

March 12, 2021

Young astronomers in Dana Grafstein and Joanna Napolitano’s class at Deer Park’s May Moore Primary School recently set up individual star labs in the classroom to investigate why stars are only visible in the night sky. The first graders explored the cause-and-effect relationship between the sun’s brightness and the visibility of the stars.

The lesson began with the teachers asking the students to close their eyes, turning off the lights and projecting stars onto the ceiling of the classroom. When the students opened their eyes, they tried to guess what we would be learning about. When the lights were then turned back on, the stars on the ceiling disappeared.

Using Google Slides, the class discussed some of the important vocabulary words that the students needed to know to conduct their investigation, such as a telescope. A Mystery Science video was shared, which provided background information about the Big Dipper and what the stars look like in the bright city sky and how that differs from how they look in the country, where there is less light pollution.

Using a document camera, Grafstein and Napolitano showed the students how to use a paper cup, push pin and dotted pattern of the Big Dipper so they could create their own star-makers. Two privacy shields – one around the desk and one on top – were utilized to make an individual star lab for each student. Inside each star lab was a picture of the night sky. The students were given a finger flashlight and shined the light through the holes they had made in the cup to create a star pattern of the Big Dipper on their night sky.

Next, the class again discussed what kind of light in the daytime sky could affect the ability to see the stars.

“Now they were realizing that it must be the sun,” said Grafstein. “We then went around to every student’s star lab with a flashlight disguised as the sun. While the student was projecting their Big Dipper on their own night sky, we made the sun rise and set on their Big Dipper. They each realized that they were unable to see the Big Dipper when the sun was out, but when the sun set, they could see it again. They learned that the stars don’t disappear in the daytime, we just can’t see them because the sun outshines them.”

To conclude the activity, the first graders drew pictures of the different parts of their star labs and completed an exit ticket explaining why we can’t see the stars in the daytime even though they are still there.

This press release was produced by Deer Park School District. The views expressed here are the author's own.