Morehead Planetarium
Located on the campus of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, the Morehead Planetarium is a fascinating place to visit to learn more about astronomy.
"Located in the heart of Chapel Hill, Morehead Planetarium and Science Center transports visitors to distant galaxies and takes them deep into the cells of every living organism."
This is a great place to take students on a field trip. Not only does it have wonderful programs at the planetarium, it’s newest addition is the Digital Video Theater which shows original science programming. The exhibit area provides explanations of astronomical phenomena.
The website includes the show schedule, school show schedule, courses and classes, as well as:
- Science Resources (Lots of information on the solar systems, planets, asteroids, meteors, and so forth.)
- Astronomy Links
- List of Astronomy Clubs in North Carolina.
- (Get the latest for your science current event here).
For teachers there are lesson plans, and educator’s newsletter, and more.
Professional development offerings
The goal of the Planetarium’s workshops is improved science content, knowledge and improved confidence in planning and implementing science education activities. We use surveys, interviews, observations to measure outcomes.
- Workshops typically serve between 21-40 educators per session.
- Content is mostly aligned with North Carolina standards for professional development and is tailored to the needs of the requesting school system. Offerings are based on theory, classroom strategies, and subject matter content combined with classroom assignments about how to use the professional development in practice.
- Sessions offered are a combination of lecture and processing activities with time to process the learning with other participants.
- Follow-up activities include a required evaluation of the professional development session, electronic follow-up, and an in-person follow-up session.
- Materials may be included in the cost of the workshops while some sessions charge a materials fee.



