Adventures in the Star Lab and conquering fears

In my position as a STEM Enrichment Specialist, I get the unique opportunity to teach over 1,000 students each class rotation. This provides me with a chance to give students some pretty unique opportunities, and provides me with some amazing learning experiences myself.
One of my favorite things to do is the Star Lab, which is an inflatable, portable planetarium. You can learn more about it here: http://starlab.com/ – but trust me, it is an amazing way to teach kids science concepts, geography, and other skills.

 

The entrance to the Star Lab

I take every child in my school through the Star Lab 2 times in a period of about 3 weeks. It is always an interesting experience, and the Star Lab has earned some interesting monikers from me (and others) in that time.

Some of my favorites are:

• Ms. Willis’ UFO or Spaceship (usually from the same kindergarteners who think that I am really taking them into outer space).
• The “Germ Bubble” – Just picture this – I willingly close myself up in a small round dome, 6 times a day, with up to 45 students ranging in age from 5-12 at a time for 3 weeks – My sanity might come into question. . .
• Various excited nicknames from kids that LOVE some StarLab Time – (I do get cheers when I announce it is Star Lab time)
• The ball of “epicness”
• The amazing dome
• the totally awesome lab
• the best day of the year

 

But, for all of the excitement, learning and fun that the Star Lab represents (after all, where else can you go and watch movies in 360 degrees, gaze at the sky from the moon, or see what the sky looked like when you were born), it does represent another thing to many students – a legitimate, terrifying fear. The Star Lab is dark, the air circulation and mass of students can make it loud, and the experience can be disorienting. Being in the Star Lab is unknown for students. All of those factors and sensory issues combine together to create a very real fear.
It is always the first journey that is the worst, and that is the time that I have to work the most with the more fearful students to get them to come in. I have never had a child not go in, eventually, but there are students that take more effort to go in than others.
When students are fearful, often all it takes is a reassurance from me, their own flashlight, the promise that they can sit beside me inside, or me holding their hand as they enter through the door.
Other times, they need some one on one attention, which may mean that they don’t enter with their class, and need some time to get used to the idea, and they go in later, with another class, or even just with me during lunch. Many times, but certainly not always these students are my “special friends” – students with special needs, sensory or developmental delays that make the entire experience more frightening. I try to predict each year who those students will be, and then take those students to the Star Lab before we start without their class – often that is all they need and they are ready to go. Sometimes, more effort is needed – but every student that I have had that has struggled to go in, has had a wonderful experience in the Star Lab. I try to predict, but there is no “set profile” of a child that will be afraid, and that makes for some adventures to say the least.
On Thursday of this week, I had a particularly scared kindergartener. She took me by the hand and we entered, and started by sitting with her classmates. Before I even got everyone settled down, she was by my side and stayed there for the duration – and the paraprofessional that is in that class with me had a nice giggle at the way the little girl, with her braids flipping in my face, constantly adjusted in my lap. I’m not sure that the Ross Sisters could contort themselves in more varied positions than she did in that class period. Honestly, once I was over the complete violation of personal space, it was actually very sweet – she patted me on the back, stroked my hair and mostly just hugged me. I guess it was comforting to her to “comfort me” in the dark space. When we left the Star Lab, she hugged me again & thanked me, and said it was her favorite thing ever.
Those little victories make it all the sweeter when I get a card like this – from one of my biggest Star Lab success stories “M”. M has been terrified of the Star Lab – from day 1 of Kindergarten. When I say terrified – I am not exaggerating. Always wanting to be brave, M came in the Star Lab that first day – and sat beside me – and just like the sweet girl this week – M crawled into my lap, but she did not make it the entire time. Her body was truly shaking, and she asked to exit the Star Lab. Since that first time, we have had to conquer her fear each year, from having her mom come in with her after school, to having a buddy sit on one side of her, with me on the other, to this year. Again, she entered holding my hand (it is just what we do now), and she sat beside me, but she never asked to leave. Even better were her smiles, excited gasps and cheers as we went through the Star Lab experience this week. The icing on the cake was this birthday card she gave me. It shows the 2 of us with the Star Lab, and her saying “I wanna go in for the first time”.

Sometimes it really is the little things that we do as teachers, like helping a child conquer their fear, that can make all the difference in the end.