Are You Experienced?

With a push of a button and a turn of a few dials, Donald Knapp fast forwards the setting of the sun and brings out the starry, evening sky. No, Knapp is not some mad, evil scientist that has taken control of the earth’s rotation. He is the director of multimedia experiences at McDonald-Davis Elementary showing off the cool technology in the school’s Henry W. Ray Special Experience Room.

Installed in 1969, the planetarium was named in 1992 after Dr. Henry Ray, a district educator who was instrumental in obtaining the funds to install the room. It originally used a Spitz STP star projector that could project about 4,200 stars and simulate the sky over any part of Earth at any time in human history.

Knapp has been designing all the educational programs presented in the planetarium since 1986. For the first 20 years, he entertained the students using equipment that got more and more outdated. Finally, in 2006, Centennial School District upgraded to a SciDome digital projector connected to a computer that made Knapp’s job much easier and the programs more involved.

“If I click over here,” said Knapp, as he tapped on the mouse, “I can highlight the Orion constellation. Then I can bring up Taurus and Gemini. I can pre-program what I want to highlight and control each step with a remote control during the presentation. Now I can actually stand in front of the kids and interact with them. Before, I had to work everything from behind the console.”

The computer database has millions of stars, and Knapp can bring up a panoramic of any constellations he chooses. He can place swirling galaxies anywhere on the 12.2 meter-domed ceiling that serves as his projection screen and size them to his liking. The entire room also got an upgrade with LED lights, theater-style seats and a surround sound system.

The endless possibilities have given him more freedom to design the lessons for students throughout the entire district.

He puts together two lessons per class a year for every grade in the district and averages about 67 presentations a week, or three programs a day. Knapp estimates it would take him about two weeks to write and design a lesson, compile the images and place them into an automated program. That’s if he only concentrated on compiling the program. But he also has to maintain the room and equipment, put on the presentations, and for the first time, he is currently teaching a morning science class at William Tennent.

A graduate of Indiana University in Indiana, Knapp holds a Bachelors degree in astrophysics and a Masters in education. He is a fellow of the International Planetarium Society and served as president of the Middle Atlantic Planetarium Society.

Besides outer space, Knapp has also put together presentations that have taken students to the zoo, the beach and the farm, all while sitting comfortably in the SER.

“The pictures are combinations of my own and images I have taken from the Internet,” said Knapp.

He also has a selection of commercially made educational films that combine animation and music to provide in depth experiences. One of those films will be presented tonight during a public astronomy night at McDonald-Davis. The 20-minute movie, Oasis in Space, talks about the evidence of water on planets in the solar system. The shows are at 6:30 and 7:30 p.m. The room seats about 45, and the public shows generally don’t sell out.

“All I have to do is push a button and they play,” said Knapp. “It’s easy for me, and the movies are very well-made. They make good use of the whole dome.”

Knapp said that the old star projector was sold on EBay to a collector for about $10,000.

The SER is scheduled to move to William Tennent in September, when the renovations are completed. The SciDome and seats will come with Knapp, but a new dome, lighting and sound system will be installed. Although the technology and the programs continue to change, the impact on the students hasn’t.

“One of the programs for the kindergartners is an introduction to the sky,” said Knapp. “When we get to the subject of rain, I like to spray a squirt bottle at the kids. A couple years later, when they come back as fourth graders, they say ‘I remember getting wet in here.’ So they do remember the programs. That’s a very positive feeling for me.”