Teaching People to Dream

Dave Weinrich 57, Male Moorhead, Minnesota United States: Share

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Profile Information

Employment Status (can pick more than one):

Work in a planetarium, Astronomy educator

If you work(ed) in a planetarium, which one?

Minnesota State University Moorhead

Are you a member of an astronomy club? If so, which one(s)

Fargo/Moorhead Astronomy Club

Just for fun, what are some words that describe you (can pick more than one)?

Astronomy lover, sidewalk astronomer, avid reader, optimist

About Me:

IPS President-Elect; astronomy education and education in developing countries are my two passions. I fell in love with the stars in my early teens and have never stopped looking up. I served for four years in the Peace Corps- two in Liberia and two in Ghana. I recently spent a six-month sabbatical in Sri Lanka working on astronomical outreach.
The stars belong to all people and can be a powerful force for uniting the diverse cultures of this planet. Yet most of the world's population doesn't have access to telescopes, planetariums and other educational tools that will help them learn about the universe. I want to help give more people access to the universe.
I am helping Dr. Jacob Ashong to establish the first public planetarium in the West African nation of Ghana. The initial installation was finished in June 2008. The Ghana Planetarium was inaugurated on January 22, 2009. My blog details the occasion and I have posted some pictures and a video interview on the Planetarium Network Home page.
The Ghana Science Project Home page is
http://www.ghanascienceproject.net/index.html

Website:

http://www.mnstate.edu/regsci/

Ghana Science Project Planetarium, Accra, Ghana

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"Earthrise"

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Ghana Science Proj. Planetarium

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Dave Weinrich's Blog

Successful opening of Ghana Planetarium

We had a successful opening of the first public planetarium in West Africa, and the first digital planetarium in sub-Saharan Africa, perhaps the whole continent. Many of the guests had never been in a planetarium in their lives and they were just blown away by what the Mediaglobe could do. Then when we did a domecast with Uniview, they almost went supernova!

It was quite a festive day and the planetarium building and surrounding area were festooned with brightly colored cloth and balloons. Astr… Continue

Posted on January 24, 2009 at 7:08am —

Grand Opening of Ghana Planetarium

Akwaba,

That means "welcome" in Ghana. Arrived here last night after a 24 hour flight from Minnesota. What a contrast in temperatures, going from a cold Midwest winter to a tropical climate. Please forgive any typing errors as I am sure they are due to jet lag.

I am here for the grand opening of the Ghana Planetarium on Jan. 22nd. There have been many improvements since I was here last summer and I am looking forward to the event. I will be training Dr. Ashong and his staff to use a Starlab pr… Continue

Posted on January 17, 2009 at 6:25am — 2 Comments

Link to article on historical Sri Lankan Astronomer

Surfing the internet, I came across an interesting article about a little known astronomer who observed in Sri Lanka over 100 years ago. http://www.sundaytimes.lk/081221/Plus/sundaytimesplus_15.html

He lived in Trincomalee, Sri Lanka. In 2003 I had the opportunity to visit there with the retired director of the Colombo Planetarium, Mr. T.C. Samaranayaka (Sam). I had read about PB Molesworth and after a considerable search, we found his grave. In the late 1800's he had a 12 1/2 inch reflector an… Continue

Posted on December 23, 2008 at 10:02am —

Comment Wall (30 comments)

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At 10:08am on June 23, 2009, Rod_Kennedy said…: Dave, We'd love to have you visit. It was warm here yesterday, only about 85 degrees with only 22% humidity, dry air never felt so good!

All the Best
Rod

At 3:05pm on April 19, 2009, Carrie Zaitz said…: Hi Dave- thanks for the thoughts on the shooting- it's shaken a lot of people up. I do teach at HFCC and do planetarium shows there as well, but my day job is teaching at a high discipline academy for girls. Crestwood (my former job) never reopened the planetarium to the public, but I do hope that the teachers there do use it once in awhile. But I don't really know.

Looks like good things are happening for you- Africa! And IPS! Congratulations! And good wishes.

Carrie

At 8:32am on April 16, 2009, Jon U. Bell said…: Hi Dave,

If you can stand my snoring, I'd be happy to room with you at the SEPA conference!

Jon

At 2:10am on January 26, 2009, Charan Singh said…: Hello Sir,
Nice to here u.
Do get in touch whenever u visit again. Anyway we will be in touch through this network.
Regards
Charansingh

At 4:40am on January 25, 2009, Mark Rigby said…: Dave - wish I'd been there! Terrific project and congratulations to all those involved in bringing a dream alive in Ghana. The atmosphere would have been wonderful. Putting stars in their eyes.

Mark Rigby
Sir Thomas Brisbane Planetarium
Australia

At 8:23pm on January 11, 2009, Kate Zylland said…: You must be leaving pretty soon for Ghana - good luck!

At 5:00pm on December 17, 2008, Steven Mitch said…: I only taught at the junior high level - 7th, 8th and 9th grades back then. I loved that age group. Yes, some had some attitude issues, but most were pretty good kids. However, at that age, one always had to stay 2 steps ahead of them.
I also helped as an assistant coach to the 8th and 9th grade football teams, assisted with the 9th grade wrestling program and ran the score clock at most basketball games as well as wrestling matches. This gave me the opportunity to spend more time with the kids (boys) and in turn, we got to know each other outside of the formal classroom scenario. I'm convinced that working with the kids longer than the required 45 minutes I had them in class each day made a huge difference in how we interacted with each other. Even today, I see a few of my former students in the role of parent, community involvement, civic groups, church and school functions (my wife teaches music at the local high school). It doesn't seem like it was that long ago that I was in the classroom. Man, 32 years went by fast!

Steve

At 7:26am on December 17, 2008, Marc Rouleau said…: Dave,

Sorry I did not get back to you sooner, I can't access the "social network" sites from work, and Planetarium Network is blocked...

Congratulations on your election!

Marc - marouleau@gmail.com

At 8:14pm on December 16, 2008, Kate Zylland said…: Glad to hear you're planning on fully documenting your trip, so those of us in cold places can be completely jealous. Worst part is, I'm headed to Washington state for the holidays, which is currently even colder than here.

Congrats, IPS pres! That's awesome! Wish I could say I voted for you, but I had to let my membership lapse when I went back to school. I would've, though :-)

At 3:39pm on December 11, 2008, Mark Rigby said…: Hi Dave,

A public congratulations on your election success. We ran against each other for President-Elect, but it was pleasing to be beaten by someone who is doing such worthy work in Ghana, which really is in the spirit of the INTERNATIONAL Planetarium Society.

Best wishes for the future.
Mark Rigby
Sir Thomas Brisbane Planetarium, Australia