Time to brainstorm ideas about where to take your class on its next field trip? The zoo is nice. Art museums aren’t every kid’s cup of tea, but it’s important to expose them to the arts. Perhaps it’s time to think outside the box — or even outside this world — when it comes to your next out-of-school excursion.
The Adler Planetarium in Chicago. It was the first planetarium built in the 
Western Hemisphere and is acknowledged as a major cultural institution in the Windy City. Adler featured the Center for Space Science Education, which includes the CyberSpace Learning Center — a combination multi-unit computer classroom, broadcast studio and exhibition gallery with regular updates from NASA. Other Adler attractions include Bringing the Heavens to Earth, where students learn how cultures utilized the movement of stars. Another spotlight is the Space Visualization Laboratory, which captures the latest images of space.
Another exhibit that will astonish your class is the Sky Theater, which was recently upgraded into one of the most technologically advanced audio and visual experiences imaginable. The new and improved theater uses floor-lighting effects and screen images that extend beyond its 180-degree dome to create a space-simulation environment nearly comparable to traveling to space on your own. Talk about a trip of a lifetime. Sure beats the zoo, eh?