Peck Sixth Graders Reach for the Stars

Sixth-grade science teacher Dr. Kathy Kennedy brought her Outer Space unit to life in an exciting new way as students experienced an interactive StarLab at The Peck School—something the community hasn’t seen in years.

The StarLab provides an immersive sensory experience for the students to see, explore, and discuss the characteristics of stars and the apparent daily motion of our Sun. These topics are the kickoff to a unit that will also examine Earth-Moon-Sun interactions that produce the seasons, eclipses, the phases of the moon as well as exploring Earth’s place within our solar system.
The inflatable, indoor planetarium transformed The Peck Commons’ Multipurpose Room into a night sky. Students eagerly crawled inside the dome, their laughter and excitement echoing through the space as the lights dimmed and a blanket of stars appeared overhead.

“Studying the stars helps students understand not only the universe around them, but also their place within it—it turns curiosity into perspective,” said Kennedy.

As their eyes adjusted, Kennedy guided students in making observations, pointing out stars of varying colors and explaining what those differences reveal. Students identified notable stars like Betelgeuse and Rigel and discussed how color can indicate a star’s temperature. They also searched for familiar constellations, including Orion, and even spotted their own zodiac signs as the sky slowly rotated above them.

To wrap up the experience, Kennedy challenged students to think critically, asking them to determine which season was being projected based on the Sun's path of motion. With the StarLab calibrated to New Jersey’s latitude, students were able to connect their observations directly to the night sky they see at home.