Seminar Schedule

Upcoming Planetarians' Zoom Seminars

2026

Dates and times subject to alteration depending on availability of presenters.

• 2026 May 29, at 11am PDT (2pm EDT, 17:00 UTC), Opening the Universe to Everyone: How to Host Sensory-Friendly Programs in Planetariums and Museums. Implementing a sensory sensitive initiative across a museum and planetarium isn't just a compassionate move—it's also strategic, inclusive, and community-building. A "sensory sensitive" facility is designed or adapted to accommodate people who have sensory processing differences, often associated with conditions such as autism, ADHD, PTSD, sensory processing disorder, or anxiety. Jay Lamm is the Director of Planetarium & Facilities at the Louisiana Art & Science Museum in Baton Rouge, LA, USA. 

• 2026 Jun 26

• 2026 Jul 31, at 12pm PDT (3pm EDT, 18:00 UTC), Planetarium Educators Workshop: How the Audience Sees It. This workshop offers suggestions for 1) assessing our audiences' knowledge and reasoning abilities; 2) choosing concepts appropriate to the learning level of the audience; and 3) applying instructional techniques that are most likely to result in lasting conceptual improvements. This is Part 4 in the Planetarium Educators Workshop series that began last July and is derived from the Planetarium Educators Workshop Guide. Workshop facilitator is Alan Gould.

• 2026 Aug 28 at 11am PDT (2pm EDT, 17:00 UTC), Light Pollution: Using the Planetarium to Motivate Audiences towards Action. How can we move audiences from learning about light pollution to taking action to address it? In this workshop, Julia Plummer will engage participants with research‑based insights from planetarium storytelling and discuss how narrative design can support audience understanding, concern, and motivation. Together, we will brainstorm concrete strategies for designing experiences that encourage audiences to take action in their homes and communities. Julia Plummer is a Professor of Science Education at Pennsylvania State University. As a researcher, Julia builds on her earlier career as a planetarium educator to investigate learning in the planetarium, spatial thinking, narrative-based learning, and embodied cognition. 

• 2026 Sep 25 at 2pm PDT (5pm EDT, 20:00 UTC) CanoeView: A Tool For Indigenous Education in a Planetarium Classroom with Aarush Bothra (University of Minnesota)  and Sarah Weaver (Como Planetarium). In planetariums, there is a tradition of live narration that intentionally contrasts with pre-recorded movies. Current teaching and learning in planetariums embrace this model, and there is clear interest and potential to do more. To this end, we created CanoeView, a 3D environment designed to support such storytelling in a Dakota context and enable student participation through a real-time group interaction. Currently, students use tablets to navigate a canoe on the Mississippi River. Our session will examine both the technical elements of implementing the digital canoe and the experiential learning benefits and challenges for middle school students in a planetarium. We continue to develop the project with indigenous educators and plan to include student devices that mimic the physical action of canoeing. The goal of the project is to enhance student understanding and enable dynamic uses for educators.  

• 2026 Oct 30, 11am PDT (1pm CST, 17:00 UTC), How to give a talk. Giving an engaging talk takes more than knowing your material. Jean Creighton will outline key steps for preparing and delivering a compelling talk for a variety of audiences: how to understand your listeners, define the purpose, clarify your message with visuals and explanations, rehearse effectively, and engage your audience. These strategies will make your presentations more impactful and even enjoyable. Jean grew up in Greece and graduated with a PhD in Astrophysics from the University of Waterloo in Canada. In 2007, she became the Director of the Manfred Olson Planetarium at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. Ever since, she presents approximately 300 shows a year and love connecting with her audiences!

• 2026 Nov 20, at 12pm PST (3pm EST, 20:00 UTC), Planetarium Educators Workshop: Questioning Strategies. The workshop goals are to introduce a scheme for classifying questions, to practice identifying types of questions, and to think of how to design intriguing sequences of questions to ask during a planetarium program. The right questions can help increase the value of our dialog with audiences. This is Part 5 in the Planetarium Educators Workshop series that began in July 2025 and is derived from the Planetarium Educators Workshop Guide. Workshop facilitator is Alan Gould.

• 2026 Dec 18