This school year, we invite you and your students to join us in the great human adventure of space exploration. Imagine your students gasping in awe as they gaze up at Chicago's night skies during a sky show, making critical choices about space colonization in one of our programs, or having their questions answered by an Adler scientist on site.

Space exploration is more than science. It requires many skills and involves all kinds of people. In addition to science goals, a trip to the Adler can meet social studies, mathematics, and technology standards. Please take a look at our new section linking Adler offerings and exhibitions to the Illinois State Benchmarks in science, and visit the education section of our website later this year for benchmarks and guides in other curricular areas. We want your field trip to meet your classroom goals. Read on for this year's offerings!

Please visit the Family & Group Visits page to learn more about registering your school group visit.

Investigate a real scientific phenomenon and make critical choices about our future in space. Using a real cosmic ray detector and computer technology, students analyze genuine data to make predictions about these high-energy, invisible particles from space. After a brief introduction to cosmic rays, students, as expert analysts, do hands-on explorations to determine how high we can safely build into space.

Start your field trip before you leave the classroom: Constellations and Survival in Space are also available as videoconference programs.

For more information about these offerings as well as our popular Ask the Expert programs please contact:

Adler Video Conferences
videoconference@adlerplanetarium.org

Enjoy a 45-minute guided tour that introduces your students to contemporary scientists as well as those from the past. An Adler educator will overview development of our understanding of the Universe in the Universe in Your Hands and From the Night Sky to the Big Bang galleries. Students will then visit Adler's Space Visualization Laboratory where a contemporary astronomer will introduce them to his or her research findings the observational and computational tools that modern scientists use.

For pricing and information on field trips, visit our Family and Group Visits page, found here: http://www.adlerplanetarium.org/plan/groups.shtml.

Join scientists who are investigating the boundary between our Solar System and the rest of our galaxy in IBEX: Search for the Edge of the Solar System.

Designed for visitors with an appreciation for the challenges of space science and a desire to learn more about science research, IBEX: Search for the Edge of the Solar System follows the creation of NASA's Interstellar Boundary Explorer (IBEX). Audiences will get an in-depth look at the mission and how IBEX is collecting high-speed atoms to create a map of our Solar System's boundary.

The Adler is proud to present this inspiring musical tour of the universe as one of our special contributions to the International Year of Astronomy, celebrating the 400th anniversary of Galileo's first use of a telescope to explore the skies.

This compelling video suite blends breathtakingly beautiful astronomical images with the enchanting musical selection Pictures at an Exhibition composed by Mussorgsky in 1874. In creating this unique sensory experience, Adler Astronomer and artist Dr. Jose Francisco Salgado selected spectacular pictures from observatories around the world, the Hubble Space Telescope, and other NASA and European Space Agency spacecraft. He combined these images with animations produced by the National Center for Supercomputing Applications at the University of Illinois, NASA, the European Space Agency, and the Adler Planetarium. This is the first time many of these 3-D images have been seen by the public.

During the show you'll find yourself swooping low across planetary surfaces, drifting through interstellar clouds, spiraling around galactic arms, sweeping past massive black holes, and soaring out among colliding galaxies to the far-reaches of our expanding universe.

For pricing and information on field trips, visit our Family and Group Visits page, found here: http://www.adlerplanetarium.org/plan/groups.shtml.

Do you need help aligning your field trip to the Illinois Learning Benchmarks in Science? We can help you plan your trip!

This guide is intended to help teachers to plan a field trip to the Adler Planetarium and address Illinois State Goals and Benchmarks. Teachers can use this grid to see if a goal or benchmark is met or addressed in an Adler exhibit, show, or program.

If a benchmark is labeled addresses benchmark, then the exhibit or show addresses part of the benchmark, but not all aspects of the benchmark. If a benchmark is labeled meets benchmark, then the exhibit or show addresses most or all aspects of that benchmark. These categories are based on the exhibit or show as a stand alone, meaning that the students will address these ideas by walking through and engaging with the entire exhibit. Additional instruction by teachers, pre- and post-activities, and discussion of exhibit elements will deepen the learning experience. A trip to the museum works best for students when it is aligned with other curricula and classroom activities.

Please note that each sky show has a recommended audience or age group. While benchmarks may be addressed or met for a given grade level, the show may not be appropriate overall for that grade level.

Download PDF visitor experience matrixes:
Early Elementary
Late Elementary
Middle/Junior High
Early High School
Late High School

Please visit our Gallery Guides page to download materials to help focus your students' field trip.

When you arrive at the museum please escort your group to the Group Services Entrance. An Adler staff member will greet you and give you a brief introduction to the Museum and overview of Museum policies. At this time teachers will receive a welcome packet. Now it's time to begin your journey!

Using your museum guides, you and your students can proceed through the museum in whatever order you choose. The guides will give you suggestions about different things to look at, try, and think about in various galleries to help you explore the theme you have chosen.

While you are moving through the museum, you may encounter Adler Education staff and volunteers interpreting exhibits and facilitating activities. A schedule of daily education activities, times, and locations are usually posted on white boards at the entrances. Please take advantage of these activities!

Adler museum staff are stationed throughout the museum to assist you during your visit. They will be able to direct you to important locations throughout the museum, including restrooms, classrooms for lunch, Galileo's Café, theaters, and museum galleries. It is recommended that school groups use the restrooms found on the midlevel during their visit.