Beneath the Dome - Balancing Ethics, Excellence and Engagement in Planetariums

Published in 'Planetarian', 2008

The dark dome of the Planetarium has been illuminated by numerous research studies across the decades, many of which follow similar questions in different settings. The question ‘Where does the planetarium optimally lie on the spectrum between education and entertainment?’ is frequently posed by researchers in the field, but seems rarely to be the central focus of the investigation. In order to approach an answer this question, I contacted a number of ‘Planetarium Professionals’ who perform diverse roles in diverse institutions. I conducted in‐depth interviews exploring how they themselves conceived of their work and the implicit tensions it includes. From their insights I have developed a model showing some of the ways in which Planetarium Professionals think about their work in order to be successful.

Education for Inspiration: Peak Experience and Flow in the Classroom

In The End of Education Neil Postman suggests that “In considering how to conduct the schooling of our young, adults have two problems to solve. One is an engineering problem; the other, a metaphysical one.” (1995, p.3) The “engineering problem” Postman describes is a question of means: “the means by which the young will become learned.” The “metaphysical problem” is thorn-ier, and deeper:

...to become a different person be-cause of something you have learned – to appropriate an insight, a con-cept, a vision, so that your world is altered – that is a different matter. For that to happen, you need a rea-son. And this is the metaphysical problem I speak of. (1995, p.4)

He later states the problem succinctly: “For school to make sense, the young, their parents, and their teachers must have a god to serve... If they have none, school is pointless.” (1995, p.4)

Psychologist Abraham Maslow, writing thirty years earlier, made a similar diagnosis: “The most charitable thing we can say about this state of affairs is that American education is conflicted and confused about its far goals and purposes... [many educators] seem to have renounced far goals altogether.” (1994, p48) Both Postman and Maslow suggest that education in the USA, at the time of their writing, had lost its sense of direction and ultimate purpose, and needed a ‘god’ – a set of overarching ideals, and a framing narrative – to make the enterprise meaningful again.

I believe that the idea of Education for Inspiration may offer an answer to Postman’s search for a “transcendent, unifying “narrative”” to guide education (Postman, 1995, back-cover). In the midst of powerful, moving experiences students may craft their own ‘god to serve’, and bring the kind of intrinsic motivation to their work that every good teacher dreams of.

Variations on a Blue School: An Analysis of the Gestation of the Blue Man Creativity Center

In 2007 Chris Wink and Matt Goldman, co--creators of the world--renowned ‘Blue Man Group’, made a startling career--change – they opened a school, the Blue Man Creativity Center. According to their website they “want to create an educational program where crea-tivity is cherished and encouraged and where children fall in love with the joy of learning.” Students currently range in age from 2 year--olds to Kindergarten, and the founders hope to expand the school to a higher grade each year until they reach 5th Grade. They can expect to “experience music every day in the classroom and weekly with a mu-sic specialist. In the weekly classes, they will drum, sing, play Blue Man--made instruments and write songs. Following a tour of the Blue Man recording studio, they will record the songs they have com-posed.” In addition, they will “develop...a complete love of language”, “develop their motor skills by participating in a wide range of physical activities” and much more.

Clearly, a vision of education is at play here that is strikingly and refreshingly different to that advocated by mainstream educa-tional practice. For, while other schools incorporate creative activities into their curriculum, none I have encountered position the arts and creativity so centrally and with such verve. The following intends to serve as an analysis of this educational vision, enumerating the Cen-ter’s strengths and, perhaps, highlighting some areas of weakness. The analysis will be grounded on a series of fundamental questions for educators in the 21st Century: ‘What’s worth learning?’, ‘How is it best learned?’, ‘How can we get it taught that way?’ and ‘How do we know it’s been learned?’

The answers to these questions will be drawn from the Cen-ter’s website, through which its ideals and practices are communi-cated to the world, supplemented with insights drawn from interviews with three individuals closely connected to the Center: one of the school’s founding directors, also a founder of the Blue Man Group itself; a second founding director, a photographer and art therapist; and a consultant to the Center, who is well--known as a specialist in the field of Child Development.