Kourtney CloptonTX Marketing & Lead Teacher: Orbit Earth Expo Kourtney Clopton is originally from Germany, but lived in Texas most of her life. She is a proud Ohio State University and Texas State University alumni with 14 years of experience in education. When she is not teaching tomorrow’s leaders, she is spending time with her partner and their amazing son, traveling with friends, and enjoying live music at concerts. |
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Deb KureTX Marketing & Lead Teacher: Big Canyon Balloon & Orbit Earth Expo Studying Geology at the University of Rochester sparked Deb’s love of learning and teaching through field trips and outreach programs! She has since led science programs in urban, rural, and wilderness settings, in a wide range of ecosystems! Deb directs the Nature Program at Camp Pemigewassett in New Hampshire in the summer, and is excited to engage student groups with Rocky & Orb in Texas during the school year. |
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Casie LongoriaTX Marketing/Bookings Casie was born and raised in San Antonio, TX. She has a BS in Psychology from Texas A&M University – San Antonio and is actively pursuing her M. Ed. at Texas A&M University. She has experience teaching science to grades K-12 and beyond and was a STEM programs coordinator and instructor for five years before coming to SparkPoint. Casie particularly enjoys earth science, and loves to go on hikes where she can hunt for fossils to add to her collection. She currently enjoys the country life south of San Antonio with her husband, three children, and an assortment of chickens and barn cats. |
With our huge, patented cold air canyon, we fast forward into the future to see how nature’s forces change our 15 ft tall canyon model. Students debate fast versus slow changes to the earth while they experience weathering, erosion and deposition. They participate to create landforms including a barrier island, a sand dune, and a delta. Forces causing erosion are explored as we pause to compare rocks and minerals – what is the difference? What are types of rocks we know and how are those formed? Inside the canyon, students will discover a fossil record and an oil deposit. What are the fossils telling the explorers about the relative age of these layers? How did the oil form? Is it a renewable or non-renewable natural resource? The answers to these questions and much more will be discovered during out unforgettable, interactive earth science programs for each grade level.
Students journey into space to create and experience the cycles, systems and relationships between the earth, moon and sun using our huge, inflatable Earth model and scale-sized moon. While interacting with the inflatable representations in a darkened gymnasium with a light to represent the sun, students manipulate the models to experience eclipses, seasonal/lunar cycles, creation of winds, day/night cycles, tides, rotation vs revolution, physical characteristics of the earth, moon and sun, gravity, order of the planets, seasons and more! The Orbit Earth Expo Program correlates to the state and grade level science objectives. There are different age-appropriate programs for each grade level.