OCTOBER 07, 2022

On September 29, Class VII journeyed across the park to the American Museum of Natural History (AMNH). As part of their Earth Science curriculum, students were tasked with creating a small-scale version of our solar system or any star system. To help them imagine their project and strategy for building their selected star system, Class VII students had the opportunity to visit the Rose Center for Earth and Space inside the AMNH, which displays a scaled version of our own solar system. During their time at the museum, students explored the center and utilized their iPads to take photos of the information stations throughout the room, so they could refer back to that helpful information when assembling their systems.

After exploring the center, Layah M.’28 brainstormed a few ideas about her process for creating her project: “For the smaller planets I’m probably going to use clay (to create them), and for the bigger planets I am probably going to use styrofoam.”

Before walking across the park back to 92nd Street, students had the opportunity to view World Beyond Earth, a 25-minute film in the Hayden Planetarium Space Theater. Students found their seats and peered up at the giant, circular screen to watch the film, which examines each planet in our solar system. The final portion of the film examined Earth and ended by highlighting the importance of taking care of our little blue planet.

Sophie C. ’28 shared that her favorite part of the day was the film viewing: “I didn’t think that a magnetic field could look so cool,” she remarked.