The survey instruments are available online:

• Grade Level 4
• Grade Level 5
• Grade Level 8

Grade Level 4 Exit Survey Results

• 96% of students surveyed indicated they learned at least one new fact about the sky (Frankly, it's hard to imagine that every student didn't learn at least one new fact!);
• 95% of students say they will look up at the real sky as often or more often than they did prior to PV (77% more often; 18% as often);
• 95% of students say that they now have the same or more interest in astronomy and meteorology (71% more interest; 25% same interest);
• 94% of students feel the same or better about their ability to understand science and mathematics (68% feel better; 30% feel same);
• 91% of students would like to visit the planetarium again; and
• 86% of students were able to use the FCPS Dipper Finder to correctly identify the appearance of the Big Dipper in mid-December. (The results for this item may be somewhat lower due to two of three choices which were fairly similar in the first version of the survey instrument.)

• "The different types of clouds."
• "I learned that astronomy is very interesting!"
• "A adam [atom] is very very small."
• "That the Sun is an average size star."
• "How much bigger the Sun is than the Earth."
• "The Sun goes low [in Winter]. The Summer it goes high."
• "That if you went to different planets you would weigh more or less."
• "Knowing that some stars aren't really stars but planets."
• "How to find Polaris, the North Star." and a related comment, "The Dipper Finder worked!"
• "That the North Star does not move."
• "That there is going to be a meteor shower...."
• (and my personal favorite...) "When I saw the video [Powers of 10]. When we were going in [zooming back to Earth from deep space]. Well, I felt like it tickled me!"

In response to the question, "About which sky-related topics would you like to learn more?" students cited a wide variety of topics, including "about weather" and "a lot more about the planets." Many students expressed an interest in learning more about constellations.

Grade Level 5 Exit Survey Results

• 96% of students surveyed indicated they learned at least one new fact about the sky;
• 93% of students say they will look up at the real sky as often or more often than they did prior to PV (72% more often; 23% as often);
• 97% of students say that they now have the same or more interest in astronomy and meteorology (69% more interest; 28% same interest);
• 99% of students feel the same or better about their ability to understand science and mathematics (67% feel better; 32% feel same);
• 92% of students would like to visit the planetarium again; and
• 64% of students were able to use the FCPS Star Finder to correctly identify the appearance of the constellation Gemini along the Eastern horizon in mid-December. (Admittedly, we can work on improving the results for this item. It is our hypothesis that the large number of incorrect responses were caused by a misperception of direction which results from the fact that East and West are reversed when one faces South. Students are used to looking at maps and globes with North oriented towards the top, West on the left, and East on the right. For the 1999-2000 school year, the survey item will be revised to include a note of caution to make students more aware of this phenomenon.)

• "How far away the stars are." and a related comment, "That distances are measured in light years."
• "That the Sun does not always set [exactly] in the West."
• "How many stars are visible in the sky."
• "Stars have names."
• "That Orion's belt helps you find other constellations."
• "How to use the stars to navigate."
• "Sirius is the brightest star in the [night] sky."
• (and my personal favorite...) "That the sky is so cool!"

Grade Level 8 Exit Survey Results

• 87% of students surveyed indicated they learned at least one new fact about the sky;
• 97% of students say they will look up at the real sky as often or more often than they did prior to PV (42% more often; 55% as often);
• 95% of students say that they now have the same or more interest in astronomy and meteorology (31% more interest; 63% same interest);
• 97% of students feel the same or better about their ability to understand science and mathematics (40% feel better; 57% feel same);
• 82% of students would like to visit the planetarium again; and
• 70% of students were able to use the FCPS Moon Phaser to correctly identify the occurrence of the Full Moon in late June '99. 61% correctly predicted the time of moon rise; 60% correctly predicted moon set.

• "Why the moon goes through its phases."
• "About the left, lighted, last." [Mnemonic for differentiating first and last phases.]
• "Proportionally, how far away the moon is."
• "The moon revolves [around the Earth] at an angle."
• "About solar and lunar eclipses and why they're rare."
• "The little shadow on the Earth." [GOES 10 weather satellite imagery animation of 26 FEB 1999 solar eclipse.]
• "That during an eclipse [solar], you can still go blind when looking at the Sun."
• "That the moon causes the tides" and a little closer to home, "How the moon makes the Potomac River have tides."
• "How to predict tides."
• "Why in 24 hours there are four tides."
• "The Sun effects [affects] tides as well as the moon."
• "How far tides go on the beach have [has] to do with how flat or steep the beach is."
• "I learned that the Sun and the moon do not rise directly in the East and set directly in the West." [Except on the Equinoxes.]
• "That when the Sun is far away that it is Summer and when it's near it's Winter."
• "How high the Sun is in the Summer + Winter."
• "That the Sun is never directly overhead in Virginia."
• "That it [may] only take a few bad sunburns to get skin cancer."
• "Where Venus and Mars are."
• "Distances of stars."
• "When you look in the sky you look back in time."
• "The Sun will blow up [well, not literally] in five billion years."

In response to the question, "About which sky-related topics would you like to learn more?" students cited a wide variety of topics, including "about clouds and weather" and "more about the planets." Many students expressed an interest in learning more about constellations ("Constellations are always fun!"), especially the signs of the zodiac. Many students expressed an interest in comets. One student would like to learn about nebulae and galaxies. Another would like to know "how stars are created and how a star can die." And another student would like to know "how we can get a copper moon" -- wish they'd asked this question during the program!