After presenting two stories from inside the planetarium and hearing several others, the students are better prepared to present a longer lesson of about four or five stories. All of the coordination and presentation planning is organized by the students. Two student operators with two constellation cylinders will typically run a student-guided planetarium lesson that lasts from 20 to 25 minutes. With only a few practice sessions, Lucio finds that the students have become experts and are ready to show off what they have learned. His students have demonstrated their talents at science fairs, family math night, family science night, as well as for special visitors, their classmates and students of lower grades.
Observational writing is a skill based on the gathering of information from one's senses.
Many language arts educators have taken students to various locations outside of the classroom to experience their surroundings. There they are encouraged to employ their senses to make observations and to write about their experiences. Selected readings are modeled for the students from exemplars or other written text. Night experiences are provide by the Starfield Cylinder. The Native American Mythology Cylinder along with Navajo flute music is very popular and spurs the student's imagination resulting in improved creative writing skills.