For Teachers and Home-Schoolers

Teaching astronomy is a big challenge.  You want to bring the stars and planets to your students in an engaging and enjoyable way.  But the topic is complicated and needs lots of equipment and time to teach – and you can't always get your students together to look at the night sky. 

This is where we can help.  We have the resources and expertise to help you teach astronomy effectively.

Software and Shows

Do you want your students to be able to recognize the stars, planets, and constellations?  To understand why stars shine, what black holes are and how they work, what makes a telescope so special, where the elements came from?  We have shows and software that will capture your students' imagination and help them learn all these topics and more.

We have programs which create an accurate night sky from anywhere in the solar system and at almost any time.  We can put you in Egypt, 2500 BC, where your students can see the North Star wasn’t Polaris at all – it was Thuban!  Do you want them to see a solar eclipse?  We can put you in the path of totality, and you can experience darkness at noon.

We also have excellent pre-rendered shows devoted to astronomy and other topics.  Our full-dome shows are chosen with young students in mind and are suitable for a wide age-range.  Click on the "Catalog" tab to see our updated catalog, where you're sure to find something suitable. 

Additional Resources

Perhaps you want your students to learn more about the topics they’ve seen.  We can help with that, too.  We have a large inventory of teaching demonstrations and activities that can help your students explore and extend what they’ve learned – whether it’s the physics of rocket power, or whether Mars ever had running water, the fabric of space-time, and many others. 

For example, four middle school students recently completed a tutorial program where, during their weekly visits, they not only learned how to write scripts for Stellarium® (our digital planetarium software), they also learned about the night skies, planets, stars, galaxies, cosmology, and physics.  Their scripts are so good we are in the process of setting them up for widespread use!

The Pat Thomas planetarium can help you plan an appealing, exciting and educational visit for you and your students.  Just contact us with your needs.