SCHOOL TOURS

A white observatory with a domed roof and several windows, surrounded by trees and a parking lot with a yellow school bus.

School Tours

can be scheduled for Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays. There is a morning slot (9:30am) and an afternoon slot (12/12:30), which can be adjusted as necessary.

Programmes will include:

  • A guided tour of the historic Plaskett Telescope

  • A presentation that you can choose from the list of topics below

  • A planetarium show

  • Exploration of our gallery

  • other activities

  • School year 2024/5 cost: $80 per class

  • Transportation arranged by schools

  • Tours are 1 1/2 to 2 hours in length

  • Up to 2 classes per tour

  • Required Staff Ratio

    • Grades K-2: one adult per 6 students.

    • Grades 3-12: one adult per 12 students

Topics By Grade

  • All about objects in the sky during day or night, and how the Earth and Sun create days and years.

  • Let's look at all the Moon phases. What shapes do you see? Why does the Moon look different over the days of a month? Some people think that the shapes of the phases remind them of yummy food. Can you think of what phase a banana would represent? or an orange? Come and find out. (We might even have "Moon" food for you!)

  • The Earth is always in motion: spinning around to make day and night, orbiting around the Sun to make our seasons. The other planets have special motions too; everything in our Solar System and even our Galaxy is always in motion. Find out more about how planets move in Space and we'll get you up and moving too!

  • Why do we call the Moon an Artemis Moon? We look into what our Moon is made of (hint: not green cheese!), its motions in the sky around our Earth, and how Canadian scientists and astronauts are preparing to travel to the moon within the next year.

  • What is gravity and how does it affect us here on Earth? Can you jump high enough to get to the moon? Why do we have tides? Why does the Earth stay in orbit around the Sun? Find out the answers to these questions and more!

  • Learn about each planet in our solar system. There is something weird and interesting about each one. This presentation includes actual photographs of planets, many of which are recent as of the year 2023.

  • Learn about things in the solar system other than planets. This presentation focuses on Dwarf Planets, Moons, asteroids, and comets.

  • Learn about what it takes to live in space, especially the International Space Station. We'll cover air, temperature, pressure, and more.

  • We’ll look at how light travels through lenses and bounces off of mirrors to learn how telescopes work.

  • This presentation will explore how telescopes work, the different kinds of both ground-based and space telescopes and discover the information that they can give astronomers.

  • We will introduce spectroscopy; what colour can tell us about the stars.

  • Observational evidence for the BBT, and the theory behind it.

If you have any questions, contact schools@centreoftheuniverse.org

Schedule a tour