Entering the Earth Dome

Janine Marnien

An oversized globe made an appearance at Holy Redeemer School on

Thursday, helping students learn about science by taking them to the

center of the earth.

The globe -- called the Earth Dome -- is made out of a canvas-like

material, and when inflated, stretched all the way from the floor to

the ceiling in the school’s multipurpose room. It is 22 feet wide and

19 feet high, and is sectioned off to represent each of Earth’s time

zones.

Students in all grade levels got to see the Earth Dome.

Presentations were age appropriate, and included a lecture on

geographic topics, a tour around the globe and a trip inside the

“center of the Earth.”

Fourth-grade students in Gail Schall’s class “oohed” and “ahhed”

throughout the presentation, which for their grade included

information about volcanoes, with a miniature volcano that erupted,

tornadoes, lightning and continents.

Presenter Jarrod Callihan used a generator to create “lightning,”

which was really large sparks from the generator’s electricity,

before taking the students around and inside the dome.

“I liked going inside the best, but it was kind of weird,” Tyler

Jeffares said. “Everything was backward and I didn’t realize I was

sitting on Antarctica.”

Images of the continents appeared to be facing the opposite

direction once inside the Earth Dome. Antarctica faced the floor, and

was not visible from outside the dome.

Callihan pointed out geographic markers like Mt. Everest, told

students which ocean was the biggest and pointed out that because of

its thick vegetation, South America produces most of Earth’s oxygen.

Science teacher Cathi Garcia brought the Earth Dome to the school

to help foster an enthusiasm for science and geography.

“Anything hands-on is better than the textbook,” she said.

The Earth Dome is an exhibit by Mobile Productions, and is taken

to campuses nationwide.