![[world]](evearth.gif){kind=small}
Earth
Balloon®
Courtesy of the Times-Democrat - By ANITA L. SHERMAN
Text reads: It was in the gym at M.M. Pierce Elementary last week waiting for their arrival. It sat, large and round and very blue, luminous and soft to the touch. Trish Warner's second grade students didn't know what to expect when they entered the gym for their tour of the Earth Balloon. Their mouths fell open and their eyes widened as they fixated on the giant orb. They remained focused as they fumbled to slip off their shoes and they couldn't help but let out little gasps. "Wow." "This is awesome." "It's huge." It was that and more.
David Knutson, a soft spoken young man rounded the Earth Balloon's circumference and began talking to the children about what they saw in front of them - the colorful continents and massive oceans, the lush green rain forests and trailing mountain ranges. Knutson, the founder and producer of Earth Balloon, Inc. was about the age of his audience when he fell in love with geography and history. His sustained interest over the years led him to start his own company. He travels throughout the US visiting schools, inflating his huge version of the earth and teaching students about geography and his other love - conservation and man's impact on the earth.
Betty Putman, principal at MM Pierce, walked into the gym and smiled broadly. "We're having such a wonderful time with this," she said. "The classes have been coming in, one at a time throughout the day. It's such fun and it fits in so well with our social studies SOLs."
Knutson had the attention of his young audience. "If you were traveling in outer space on a spaceship and saw the earth from a distance, this is how it would look," he said. "You wouldn't see specific countries but areas, like oceans, and the rain forests or mountain ranges." So the observer sees no boundary lines, only a global view of unified land masses. Knutson asked the children to step close to the Earth Balloon. "Imagine yourself in outer space, 99% of the atmosphere would be contained within 1 inch of the globe."
The Earth Balloon is designed to scale. One inch equals 30 miles. At this scale the moon would be two football fields away and the sun would be 49 miles away. As the children entered, the balloon slightly deflated, but a fan connected quickly filled it back up. Seated on Antarctica, the children got an inside view of the earth. Sean O'Neal, a blond haired, precocious 7-year old, was quick to point out that he knew that the continents were once all together and then broke apart. Adjusting his presentation to the level of his audience, Knutson didn't go into the complexity of plate tectonics. However he did explain how pieces of land that move around, even slightly can change things. "Mount Everest is getting higher," explained Knutson. "It's growing about 1 inch every year because the land from both sides is pushing it upward." Using a laser pointer he showed his captivated group the continents and oceans of the world.
Aside from the Earth Balloon itself, Knutson provides a host of exciting curriculum for teachers to use exploring geography, geology, rain forests, map projections, time zones migration and more. Earth Balloon, Inc. also maintains a web site about the Earth Balloon at http://www.earthballoon.com.
Courtesy of the Main Line Times - By DAVID ROBINSON
Text Reads: As mother of twin fourth graders and member of the cultural enrichment committee of the Belmont Hills Home & School Association, Jennifer Burke Levin wanted, as she said, "to do something special for Earth Day." On the internet, she found Earth Balloon, Inc. of Minnesota, and with the encouragement of Judith Vietri, principal of Belmont Hills Elementary, the core of the program quickly filled up, literally.
This past week, the Belmont Hills gym was barely able to contain the enormous balloon, 19 feet high and 22 feet in diameter. Walking through the door, each class expressed amazement as they stood before the Earth Balloon. The children learned that, at this scale, all of the earth's precious atmosphere that gives us life is only within the first inch next to the surface of the Earth Balloon.
Sam Greene, the Earth Awareness teacher, was enjoying himself amid the heavy schedule. During his two-day appearance at Belmont Hills, Greene would be visited by every class in the school for 30 to 40 minutes, depending on the ages and attention spans of the children.
Outside, using a laser pointer, Greene introduced the children to the geography of deserts, savannahs, rain forests and mountain ranges of the world. He explained the relationships among temperature, wind and water and how each creates conditions affecting global climate. He also explained what will happen if the rain forests are destroyed.
Going inside the Earth Balloon through a zippered seam in the Pacific Ocean was the most exciting part of the presentation. Looking out, students saw everything in a new way. The first question inside was: "Where is Antarctica?" The answer was: "You are sitting on it." Other questions followed, and Greene answered each patiently and clearly using his laser to illustrate points of geography.
This is the first visit of the Earth Balloon to the Philadelphia area. The organization travels to over 200 school districts every year. In addition to the globe, the company provides lesson plans, worksheets, activities and puzzles to support the presentation back in the classrooms.
Outside, monitoring the time schedule and providing water for the throat-weary Greene, was Berke-Levin. As teachers left, they thanked her for her effort. Many of the exiting children walked backward to get one final look at the massive globe. They were final proof of the success of this massive enrichment experience.
Courtesy of Willmar Tribune
Text reads: Third grade students at Kennedy Elementary School in Willmar (above) stand next to an inflatable Earth nearly 22 feet in diameter. The Earth Balloon nearly fills the little gym at Kennedy. After the students enter the earth through a zipper in the Pacific Ocean, they marvel at seeing the earth re-inflate (right). Students were able to take a trip around and inside the world Monday with the help of the "Earth Awareness Portable Classroom." Dave Knutson, of Earth Balloon, Inc., Circle Pines, MN gave the program.
Courtesy of St. Cloud Times
Text reads: Balloon helps kids learn about earth science, geography and environment - By PATTY MATTERN
Students at St. Francis Xavier School saw the world from a new perspective Monday during geography class. A 22-foot diameter Earth became the classroom for kindergartners through sixth-graders. Earth Balloon, Inc. takes the Earth Balloon to schools across the nation to give interactive lessons in geography, earth science, environmental and social studies, said Dave Knutson, president of the Minneapolis based company. "Our purpose is to make learning about our earth a little more real to students. The Earth Balloon is very visual. It really captures the students imaginations," Knutson said.
One class of fourth-graders began their lesson outside the Earth Balloon looking at Africa. "This is almost like looking at earth from outer space, without the clouds blocking your view," Knutson told the students. "We're looking at Africa right here," said Knutson, using a laser pointer. "The dark green in the center of Africa is a large area of rain forest," Knutson said. To give students an idea of how the size of the earth compared with the Earth Balloon, Knutson told them that one inch on the Earth Balloon equals 30 miles on our real earth.
They walked a little farther around the balloon to visit Australia. Using the scale Knutson referred to earlier, he asked students to figure out the distance of Australia from coast to coast. A student used a 10-inch scale to measure across the continent. She got 80 inches, or 2,400 miles. To continue their lesson, the students went inside. To enter, students passed through a heavy duty zipper at the International Date Line in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. The moving balloon made students feel like they were moving even though they were sitting still. "It was kind of weird. It felt like we were being lifted up off the ground," said Rose Riordan, a fourth-grader.
Now, North America was up and over their shoulders and backward. "On the outside we didn't see much of North America. Now you can see everything in one glance," Knutson said. Inside the Earth Balloon, students could see the continents and their true relationship to one another - not distorted as flat map projections show them," Knutson said. With the red laser, Knutson traced the Mississippi River from the Gulf of Mexico to Sartell to give students a point of reference.
Then Knutson took students to Russia to point out how changes humans made have damaged the earth. He pointed to the Aral Sea in Russia. "This old shoreline used to be twice as large. It was a beautiful place," Knutson said. Twenty-two different species of fish filled the lake, he said. "The main industry was fishing. It's now a dead sea. There's no life," Knutson said. Almost 40 years ago people in the region decided they wanted to grow a cash crop - cotton. They built a canal to carry water from the sea to the cropland and the lake shrunk, he said. The shrinking has leveled off and now many people are working to reverse the disastrous effects of that canal, Knutson said.
"It took less than 40 years to destroy that beautiful place," Knutson said. "The lesson to learn is that you might look at a local lake and think that your little piece of trash doesn't really matter - it won't hurt anything - but it does matter." Seeing the impact on the Aral Sea concerned Riordan. She said she hopes things are prevented in the future. "I hope the earth can stay beautiful forever," Riordan said.
Courtesy of the Oshkosh Northwestern
Text Reads: South Park eighth-graders and some sixth and seventh-graders caught a glimpse of the world Monday from inside the Earth Balloon, a hand-painted replica of the world that is 22 feet in diameter and 18 feet high.
The globe is constructed of 24 panels of fire-resistant sailcloth. It accommodates up to 30 students, who enter through a zipper in the Pacific Ocean (representing the International Date Line). The program includes lessons on geographic materials, places in the news, environmental issues and other science topics. - By JOE SIENIEWICZ
Courtesy of Minneapolis Star Tribune
It's A Small World... Students See Earth With New Perspective
Courtesy of the Forest City Summit
Text Reads: After pointing out such significant sites as the Sahara Desert and the Nile River, David Knutson invites students to enter into the earth with him. On the inside they look up and see the ring of fire, the Burmuda Triangle and the approximate location of Forest City. Students at the Forest City Elementary School got a new perspective on geography Thursday and Friday when Knutson brought his Minneapolis company's Earth Balloon to the school.
The Earth Balloon inflates with a portable fan in about five minutes to a size of 22 feet in diameter. It takes about that long to deflate too and then Knutson folds it into a thin strip and rolls it up like a sleeping bag to take it home. The Earth Balloon was created at a scale of 1 inch to 30 miles. Knutson said using this scale the moon would be about two football fields away and the sun would be about 48 miles away. 99% of the earth's atmosphere would be within one inch of the globe's surface. Knutson invites the students to come within 6 inches from the globe to see what the astronauts on the space shuttle see. "They can't see the whole earth at one time. They only see a small part of it and it's constantly moving by," he said. "This is what the land looks like from outer space. The countries have no borders. The little black dots represent the major cities.
Fourth grade students Michelle Miller and Sabrina DeBoe enjoyed going inside the balloon but both agreed that their favorite part was measuring the distance across Australia. It's about 80 inches, or 2,400 miles. Miller said she also got to watch Knutson inflate the balloon the first time.
The Earth Balloon travels to schools across the nation. - BY KRISTIE SAATMANN
Copyright © 2005, Earth Balloon, Inc.
For further information or questions you can reach Earth Balloon, Inc. by e-mail at: info@earthballoon.com
