Reaching for the Stars: Acquisition of Digistar 7 at Riverside City College

With support from the Improving Undergraduate STEM Education: Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSI Program), this Educational Instrumentation project at Riverside City College (RCC) will strengthen undergraduate learning in Astronomy, Geology, Oceanography, Anatomy and Physiology, Chemistry, and Physics. Specifically, this project will secure a dual-projection planetarium system and associated control systems, lighting, and sound systems, which will allow students to view and interact with detailed projected models of: astronomy and astrophysical systems including the Solar System and galaxies; anatomical models of humans and other animals; Earth and its interior; meteorology; and molecules in two introductory astronomy courses covering the Solar System, stellar evolution, galaxies, and cosmology; introductory geology and oceanography courses; introductory human anatomy; introductory chemistry; and conceptual and calculus-based physics courses.

An estimated 1000 RCC students, 1000 students attending field trips from area K-12 schools, and 8 faculty will utilize the project-funded equipment each year.

The goals of this project are to enrich the learning and experiences of undergraduate students by upgrading critical equipment and computing resources in astronomy, with additional uses in other STEM disciplines as described above. The new planetarium projection system will display remarkably detailed simulations of the night sky as well as detailed 3D models of astronomical objects and systems, and with included STEM modules models for other STEM fields can be displayed and interacted with as well.

Students will gain a deeper understanding of the underlying science of astronomy, including orbital mechanics and phases of the Moon, which is a commonly misunderstood concept. The project will assess the impact of the project funded equipment using Instructional Effectiveness data with success rates in the associated classes disaggregated by demographic groups.

This project is funded by the HSI Program, which aims to enhance undergraduate STEM education, broaden participation in STEM, and build capacity at HSIs.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.