Adler Planetarium | Chicago Historical Society | DuSable Museum
Field Museum | Museum of Science and Industry
Newberry Library | Oriental Institute


Adler Planetarium and Astronomy Museum

1300 South Lake Shore Drive
Chicago, IL 60605
www.adlerplanetarium.org

Phone: 312.294.0349
Contact: Coordinator of Teacher Services

The Adler has charted a new course for its education programs in the 21st century. Its mission is to stimulate public interest in astronomy and its history, and to engage and educate a diverse audience in the quest to understand our evolving Universe. Central to theis mission is the role of space exploration in advancing scientific literacy through its ability to inspire all learners with the wonders of the Universe. At the Adler, space science serves as a context for interdisciplinary studies that cross the vaious domains of science, while bridging the sciences, arts, and humanities.

The Adler Planetarium & Astronomy Museum has ten exhibition galleries that provide a conceptual framework for understanding astronomy and its history. The Adler also houses two unique planetarium theaters. The STarRider Theater experience is an exciting, interactive, virtual reality environment that launches you into the outer reaches of space. The Sky Theater experience is an exploration of the wonders of the night sky.

In addition, the Adler offers a range of educational resources to help you supplement our students' study of fundamental science concepts such as light, motion, gravity, and energy. Help guide your students' experience by downloading curriculum materials and museum guides from the Adler's web site. Investigate our exhibits, show, and gallery programs to see the variety of learning experiences Adler offers you and your students.

Alignment with Curriculum Areas



Chicago Historical Society
1601 North Clark Street
Chicago, IL 60614
www.chicagohistory.org

Phone: 312.642.4600
Contact: Public Historian for Teacher & Student Programs

The Chicago Historical Society (CHS), founded in 1856, is the city's oldest cultural institution. The Society houses more than twenty million objects, images and documents. These include books, manuscripts, paintings, sculpture, costumes, prints, photographs, news film, architectural drawings and fragments. Nationally recognized for its major collections, the CHS specializes in the diverse history of Chicago and Illinois as well as selected areas of American history. Popular permanent and special exhibitions, educational programs, research collections and publications are offered to the public year-round.

Introduce your students to techniques historians use when analyzing artifacts as sources of information about the past. In each focused workshop, students explore a historical theme through special tours, classroom discussion, hands-on activities, and worksheets designed for gallery investigations. Workshops are scheduled for 10 am and can accommodate a group of up to thirty students. Please note appropriate grade levels: From Revolution to Republic (grades 7-12), The Civil War: America Divided (grades 7-12), Chicago Fire (grades 3-5), and Out of the Loop: Neighborhood Voices (grades 7-12).

Alignment with Curriculum Areas




The DuSable Museum of African American History
740 East 56th Place
Chicago, IL 60637
www.dusablemuseum.org/


Phone: 773.947.0600
Contact: Assistant Director, Education

DuSable Museum is the oldest independent African American Museum in the country. Its mission is the preservation, exhibition and interpretation of African and African-American life and history. It is the principal museum in the city dedicated to the preservation and interpretation of the historical experiences and achievements of African Americans. The Museum is named for Jean Baptiste Pointe DuSable, the first non-native permanent settler of Chicago. The diverse holdings of the museum number well over 10,000 pieces including sculpture, prints, paintings and historical artifacts. Special exhibitions, workshops, lectures and gallery tours highlight the work of individual artists, provide additional information on specific historical events, and explore the ideas and issues that underlie the art and history of a particular exhibit. The Museum's older wing was designed by Daniel Burnham and its new wing is named for the city's first African-American Mayor, Harold Washington.

DuSable proudly commemorates the birthdays of Dr. Martin Luther King and Malcolm X; offers special programming to commemorate Black History and Black Women's History months, Juneteenth and Kwanzaa. You are invited to visit the office of the late Mayor Harold Washington, the Fight to Fly: Blacks in Aviation exhibit dedicated to the Tuskegee Airmen, the Ames Mural, and some of the Museum's most celebrated works collected in the DuSable Treasures Exhibit.

Alignment with Curriculum Areas



The Field Museum

1400 South Lake Shore Drive
Chicago, IL 60605
www.fieldMuseum.org

Phone: 312.665.7500
Contact: Coordinator of Teacher and School Programs

More than 100 years ago, The Field Museum was founded to house the biological and anthropological collections assembled for the World's Columbian Exposition. Today, The Field Museum is dedicated to researching and presenting the diversity of relationships in nature and among cultures. To this end, the Museum houses more than 21 million natural history specimens and cultural objects. Believing that education is at the core of its service to the public, the Museum is deeply committed to improving the education of Chicago's children and contributing to local and national education reform.

The Field Museum has a distinguished legacy in educational outreach activities. Eighty-seven years ago, the Museum opened the Harris Educational Loan Center, the first program to serve students and teachers by loaning actual museum specimens to schools for use in their classrooms. And, a decade ago, the Museum inaugurated the nation's first community outreach program, which included visits with community leaders and the establishment of a parental involvement project. Since then, The Field Museum has been recognized as a national leader in museum education, emphasizing professional development, and outreach to audiences that have not traditionally visited the Museum.

Life Over Time-Walk through 3.8 billion years of life on Earth from microscopic creatures in ancient seas, through the spectacular age of dinosaurs, to the recent times of mastodons and mammoths. Tour guides are available along the path to answer your questions.

Underground Adventure-What is the least explored wilderness on Earth- More likely than not, it is the soil beneath your feet. Your underground adventure begins at Base Camp where you are shrunk to 3/4" tall and experience the world from a bug's-eye perspective.

Native American Indians-Compare and contrast the many Native American Nations as you learn about their homes, environments, cultural values, and technological innovations.

Africa-Investigate the diverse lifestyles and communities of African peoples as you witness an important community festival, visit the Bamun's Royal Palace, or cross the Sahara to see a Tuareg family.

Egypt-Learn how ancient Egyptians honored their dead by visiting a mastaba, the pre-Dynastic tomb of a powerful Egyptian official.

Alignment with Curriculum Areas



Museum of Science and Industry

 57th Street and Lake Shore Drive
Chicago, IL 60637
www.msichicago.org

Phone: 773.684.1414
Contact: Education Department

Like fingerprints, no two visits to the Museum of Science and Industry are ever the same! Here at the Museum, you can do everything you've ever imagined and even things you can't imagine. Teachers can plunge into great hands-on workshops, students can expand their horizons in our fully facilitated labs, and everyone will enjoy zipping to distant galaxies in the Omnimax theatre. Whether you're interested in robotics, rocket science, saving the planet, surfing the web, or just plain fun, the Museum will keep you on the cutting edge.

Museum of Science and Industry presents our fully facilitated learning lab programs for students in grades four to eight. All labs are designed to help teachers meet state learning goals. We have six labs to choose from: Mystery at the Museum, AIDS, Fighting the War Within, Wings to the Rescue, Tales from the Underground, Enterprise, and Outbreak! opening in October 2001. For more information on our learning labs, professional development workshops and student field trips, please contact the Museum of Science and industry reservations at 773.684.1414.

Alignment with Curriculum Areas



The Newberry Library

60 West Walton
Chicago, IL 60610-3305
www.newberry.org

Phone: 312.255.3700
Contact: Director of Public Programs

The Newberry Library is an independent library founded in 1887 as a special collections and reference resource for the people of Chicago. Its 1.5 million rare books, 5 million manuscripts, and 75,000 historic maps support explorations of the cultures of Europe and the Americas from the late Middle Ages to the twentieth century, the impact of those cultures on Africa and Asia, and African and Asian influences on Europe and the Americas. More than 25,000 use its research collections annually, and 40,000 annual visitors view changing exhibits, enroll in non-credit seminars, and take in concerts and lectures. The Library also sponsors research and education activities, including the Chicago Metro History Education Center, which was founded at the Newberry and which the Library continues to support by providing space, consultation, and services.

For teachers, the Newberry Library offers workshops on the use of historic maps in K-12 classrooms; two-day long professional development seminars in language arts and social sciences and in science in partnership with the University of Illinois at Chicago; and curriculum development programs. For students, the Chicago Metro History Education Center offers opportunities to participate in community history research projects and in local, city, state, and national History Fair competitions.

Alignment with Curriculum Areas



The Oriental Institute

1155 East 58th Street
Chicago, IL 60637
www-oi.uchicago.edu

Phone: 773.702.9507
Contact: Head of Education and Public Programs

The Oriental Institute Museum, a showcase of the history, art, and archaeology of the ancient Near East, is an integral part of the University of Chicago's Oriental Institute, which has supported research and excavation in the Middle East since 1919. Permanent collections focus on the cultures of ancient Egypt, Nubia, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Syria, and Turkey.

The museum offers a wide variety of public programs, including guided tours, school outreach visits, teacher workshops, adult education courses, family programs, and film series. Many programs are free or are presented for a nominal fee.

The Joseph and Mary Grimshaw Egyptian Gallery and the Persian Gallery are the exhbitiions currently open to the public. The museum's remaining galleries will reopen in 2002. The focal point of the Egyptian Gallery is the colossal, seventeen-foot statue of King Tutankhamun. Exhibits focus on such topics as kingship, the development of writing, mummification and burial practices, religion, and aspects of daily life. The Persian Gallery features monumental remains from the ancient Persian citadel at Persepolis. From their base in southwestern Iran, the Persians dominated the ancient Near East from the 6th century B.C. until the conquests of Alexander the Great. Exhibits include a colossal bull's head and other monumental sculpture, as well as clay tablets that document the administrative practices of the Persian Empire. Other exhibits in the gallery illustrate the material culture of other Iranian sites, ranging from prehistoric times through the 10th century A.D.

Alignment with Curriculum Areas

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This page last modified by
Julia Borst Brazas on November 19, 2003