MSU Class Visits
Overview
Abrams Planetarium is an educational venue for not only the general public, but for MSU students as well. While we specialize in astronomy education for the public, we can also use the planetarium to teach about a variety of topics. We have had classes from nearly every MSU college visit and learn about various sciences, archaeology, space law, environmental effects of space junk, science communication, museum studies, architecture, storytelling, photography, education, and more.
Please reserve your class visit at least 2 weeks in advance, though we recommend as soon as possible as our schedule fills up and the variability of MSU class times can make it harder to find enough open time.
Program Availability
We can accommodate MSU classes whenever the planetarium is not otherwise booked. However, we are generally not available Mondays-Thursdays from 3pm-5pm because of a lab class that meets regularly in the planetarium.
Program Description
For MSU Classes, we fully customize the content to your class needs and topics. Some classes choose to come for a single class period to visit while others come multiple times throughout the semester. You can choose to watch shows from our Show Library, or we can use the planetarium to discuss more custom and curated content. See examples of previous class programs below for a sense of what we can do. We encourage instructors to schedule a meeting in advance to explore their options as well.
How to Reserve a Program
For MSU classes, please email us at abrams@msu.edu to reserve class time. It is helpful to have the following information ready:
- Preferred date(s) and time
- Back up dates and times in case your first choice is filled
- The number of students expected, we have a capacity of 141
- Any accommodations your students or group members may need such as captioning, tactile supports, sensory friendly options, etc.
- What content you would like to explore, we can then further discuss specifics
MSU Class Content Examples
We have shown archaeological sites using 360 degree photos and shown artifacts in unique ways, such as displaying incantation bowls across the full dome.
We have used the planetarium to display 360 images of various locations to have immersive views of different types of architecture and the built environment. We have some images already available or have 360 cameras available to borrow to get new images for your work specifically.
Planetariums are informal learning environments and we have hosted various MSU education classes to learn about field trips and how planetariums can be incorporated into curriculum. We have also compared and contrasted planetariums to other museum and informal learning environments.
We have hosted oceanography, geology, and sustainability classes and looked at Science on a Sphere data, seen the number of satellites and pieces of space junk in orbit, and looked closely at various geological features on Earth and Mars.
We have high resolution images and models of all the planets and moons in our solar system, including Earth. This allows us to show bird's eye views of the Earth, as well as take closer looks at features on other planets.
Students in history of science courses have visited to learn more about historical figures and to help research and design exhibits that focused on historical achievements in the sciences.
We have hosted students from various classes to discuss star lore and myths, the science of scifi, and the cosmologies that inspired genres such as Afrofuturism.