In the world of science assemblies, Jon Oliver is probably the most hardworking performer around! Operating primarily in Michigan, Ohio and Indiana, Jon also travels periodically to the east Coast to perform his school science shows. He covers a lot of miles every year shuttling back and forth. 

School assemblies are great for putting into a palatable and entertaining form current issues that kids need to know about. In Ohio and Indiana, some of our schools are doing just that! 

Sitting here in the depths of our Michigan winter, we thought to turn our gaze westward toward warmer places for a change. Midwest school assemblies or school shows on the East Coast are usually the topic of this blog, but we have been looking at Michigan school assembly performers and Ohio school assembly performers so much lately I thought we might look westward instead, and follow that California Dream a little. 

Following in our recent line of “shout outs” to great school assembly performers, a little recognition for a long time favorite of ours, Ms. Kathleen Day, our auburn haired heroin from Springfield, Ohio!

So what do Green Bay, Wisconsin, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and Dallas, Texas all have in common? The 2011 Superbowl, right? Well, yes, of course! But something else, too. Mobile Ed visits schools in all three places to perform school assemblies.! There, now you knew that, right? :-)

Earth Balloon school assemblies have been on my mind a great deal lately as I have been watching the events unfolding in Egypt. What an amazing turn of events to witness! Thirty years of rule in one of the Earth’s most ancient countries may be coming to a sudden end. The world waits watchfully to see how this story unfurls. 

Here is something current. In Queensland, Australia, recent flooding caused massive evacuations and covered an enormous area with deep water. The water damage will run into the millions of dollars, and was responsible for some loss of life. Overall, it has been a huge and unprecedented tragedy. An early article from the NASA Earth Observatory (http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/NaturalHazards/view.php?id=48420) shows some amazing photos of the affected area. All this reminded me of the mind-boggling technology available providing these simply awesome satellite images and how they contribute to our being able to understand the magnitude of our planet in ways previously unimaginable while at the same time bringing everything closer. Google Earth alone stands as one of the most incredible tools I have ever seen for teaching about our planet. Even your aging writer continues to marvel away hours with that toy!

Wow, the English are beating us into space. Seriously! No, I don’t mean officially, with rockets and astronauts and stuff. I mean ordinary people!

In 1957 the world was shaken up especially here in the United States when the Soviet Union launched Sputnik, the first artificial satellite. Americans panicked because the Soviets were beating us into space. President Kennedy called for a new national effort to propel us to the moon. Recently President Obama made reference to this moment in his State of the Union address, calling for a new “sputnik moment” in this country aimed at propelling us back to the top in terms of our economy and in particular in education. He referenced specifically the fields of science and math. Obviously, there is merit in his proposal. Other countries are quickly sliding by us through massive investments in education and a strong emphasis on the fields of math and science, areas destined to prove especially important in the high tech world we have entered. Science assemblies and science assembly programs are a perfect way to augment and enhance the teaching of science in our schools. Kids respond to demonstrations of science and better absorb and remember teachings imparted by way of exciting props and activities. All professionally performed educational science assemblies are beneficial in this regard. However, when seeking to enhance this “sputnik moment”, schools could hardly do better than a visit from a portable planetarium such as the Skydome Planetarium. Utilizing a huge silver dome capable of accommodating up to 100 students at a time, and featuring a state of the art Digitalis star projector, Skydome is as close an experience to visiting a traditional “brick and mortar” planetarium as it is possible to have. Students learn about the constellations, Greek Mythology, black holes, the phases of the Moon and all manner of other astronomical phenomena in a fast paced, exciting 50 minute science assembly inside the giant silver dome theatre. This great science assembly is very popular and we offer several tours. If you are in Michigan science assemblies such as this are available of course, as Michigan is Mobile Ed’s home. However, tours of our mobile planetarium travel across Ohio, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Missouri, Kansas, Texas, Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey, Massachusetts, Rhode island, Connecticut, Virginia, Georgia and all of the states Mobile Ed visits. Some of our very best science assembly presenters are engaged in these portable planetarium tours to insure the very best science assemblies are delivered to your school. If you are seeking a “sputnik moment” at your school, a science assembly is guaranteed to help and Skydome Planetarium is a sure fire way to go. To infinity and beyond!

I have spoken before about Rojo, one of our great school assembly performers, but this came across my desk today and I had to share it with you.