National Grid Foundation partners with Vanderbilt Planetarium to offer astronomy education to high-needs schools

The National Grid Foundation (NGF) – a longtime partner of the Suffolk County Vanderbilt Museum and its STEM programs – has been essential to the Museum’s outreach efforts to high-needs schools on Long Island.

For nine years, NGF support has enabled the Vanderbilt Reichert Planetarium to take its highly regarded astronomy and science education programs into under-served schools – free of charge – and to serve more than 25,000 students.

The current 2020-2021 school year marks the third year in a row that NGF has supported the Exploring the Universe: Traveling Astronomy Program, taught by educators from the Museum’s Charles and Helen Reichert Planetarium. Normally, they teach on-site in schools. This year, however, the educators traveled to schools virtually, live via Zoom. During the current school year, 1,685 students in more than 60 classes participated.

Dave Bush, director of the Reichert Planetarium, said, “We are happy to extend our professional expertise in the field of astronomy education to schools that would not otherwise be able to visit the Reichert Planetarium. Our goal is to provide quality programming that sparks curiosity, wonder, and excitement. Students who partake in our presentations are afforded highly engaging visuals and activities that leave lasting impressions.”

Exploring the Universe (ETU), developed and presented live by highly trained Vanderbilt science educators, immerses students in grades K-8 in an engaging astronomy course. An exciting multimedia presentation primes students to learn and inspires them to consider a variety of astronomy topics. ETU offers two live virtual programs, Space Adventure to the Moon and Exploring the Solar System.

Exploring the Universe is designed to offer educational experiences beyond the walls of the Vanderbilt Reichert Planetarium. Educators provide materials to help students learn and explore in greater detail the topics taught in the classroom. The program serves the communities and schools of Nassau and Suffolk counties to provide exciting learning experiences about the world of astronomy.

For more information, visit www.vanderbiltmuseum.org.