With funding provided by the NASA/Missouri Space Grant Consortium, the Department of Mathematics, Physics, Astronomy, and Statistics; UMSL is proud to offer the Astronomy Outreach Program free of charge for schools.
This program is geared towards third through sixth grade students to supplement their learning in the classroom with a slideshow presentation, a planetarium show, and astronomy and science related activities on campus. Assistance with transportation to the UMSL campus may be available upon request.
The Astronomy Outreach Program allows for students to have access to educational science resources not available in the typical classroom. The planetarium shows give students a chance to view the night sky without the disadvantage of light pollution, as well as provide a visual aid for many different concepts such as the Earth’s rotation, the Sun’s motion in the sky, or how to measure a day and a year. The classroom activities portion of the program includes demonstrations with dry ice and liquid nitrogen to illustrate the phases of matter (and to touch on science safety!) and discussions on space and astronomy topics.
The goal of this program is to expose students not only to astronomy, but to science in general. The presentations aim to not only provide explanations of some of the astronomical phenomena students encounter on an everyday basis, but to stimulate critical thinking about nature and the world around them.
The program is split into two portions: the classroom presentation and the planetarium presentation. The content of the presentations is flexible to suit the needs of each group of students. While the basic content remains the same, each presentation can be modified to cater towards certain topics or demonstrations in order to reinforce lessons learned in the classroom.
The classroom presentation is comprised of short discussions, demonstrations, and science activities related to astronomy.
The first set of demonstrations deal 
with the phases of matter and how they vary depending on the material. Liquid nitrogen and dry ice (solid carbon dioxide) are used to show students how some elements have freezing and boiling points much much colder than substances they encounter everyday, such as water. To illustrate just how cold these two substance are, various objects are frozen, and some fun properties that arise from the relationship between temperature, pressure, and volume are explored.
Following this is the making 
of a model comet. The importance of comets in space science is discussed along with the physical conditions of space (temperature, etc.), relating back to the first part of the classroom presentation. Topics such as space exploration, telescopes, or career opportunities in science and engineering can also be discussed.
The planetarium presentation consists of a demonstration of the sky from different locations on Earth at differenet times of the year using the Spitz SciDome HD Digital Projection System.
The show opens with a view of the sky from St. Louis at twilight. This is followed by discussions and demonstrations of
Other topics can be covered on request such as flybys of the planets and moons.
The UMSL planetarium is able to seat up to 36 students at a time. Due to this size restriction, there are several options depending on the size of the group.
Please schedule appointments with
Jonah Vercher
Student Coordinator
jzvpwc@umsystem.edu
or
Dr. Bruce Wilking
Faculty Supervisor
bwilking@umsl.edu
| Small Groups (36 students or less) | Large Groups (37-72 students) | Very Large Groups (72+ students): |
|---|---|---|
|
Available at various times during the week. |
Available on Fridays, 9:00 am– 2:00 pm |
Please contact us to discuss special arrangements. |
|
Option 1 (50 minutes):
Option 2 (2 hours):
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Split Presentation (2 hours):
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Download our program survey. You can either bring a copy to fill out and hand in at the conclusion of your presentation, or you can mail it to the department (the address is listed on the survey). Thank you for participating in the Astronomy Outreach Program, and we hope to see you again in the future!
Do you have any questions about the planetarium or our Outreach Program? Want to get on the schedule for the Outreach Program? Please contact one of us, and we'll help you out!
Jonah Vercher
Student Coordinator
jzvpwc@umsystem.edu
Dr. Bruce Wilking
Faculty Supervisor
bwilking@umsl.edu
