Planetarium Educator

The Role

Liberty Science Center (LSC) invites your application for an exciting NASA-funded role designed to ignite the love of astronomy learning for young people.

This part time Planetarium Educator role will:(1) present and develop NASA-themed content to students in grades 4-8 at weekly after school programs in the Hudson County, NJ, area; (2) operate an inflatable, portable planetarium at our community-based partner sites (3) train students on how to use and create engaging dome programs; and (4) operate equipment and facilitate programming, including live shows, movies, and laser light shows, onsite in all of LSC’s space-related facilities.

The Planetarium Educator will work three days a week, primarily between 2:00 PM and 8:00 PM. This role will report to the Planetarium Director and will work closely with members of the STEM Education department. This is an 18-month, grant-funded position, currently scheduled to end September 30th, 2027.

As a Planetarium Educator, you are passionate about presenting astronomy, space science, and earth science topics. Your formal and informal education experience will help keep students engaged in NASA-based interactive experiences. Your experience as a skilled and dynamic presenter will come to the fore as you train students to create and deliver their own planetarium shows. Your experience in public presentations will be tapped as you give programs in LSC’s giant Jennifer Chalsty Planetarium and Weston Family Lab for Earth and Space Exploration.

The essential functions of the Part-Time Planetarium Educator (18-month) role are as follows.

• Supports LSC’s grant-funded program (‘NASA After school Engagement’), in which you will provide NASA-themed after school content at public schools and at youth centers to students in grades 4-8.
• Work with the project team on content to be delivered weekly at after school and summer camp venues.
• Share NASA content with students by developing and delivering programs that deepen their understanding of NASA’s work, including the Artemis Mission and the James Webb Space Telescope.
• Operate a portable digital planetarium off-site as a venue for sharing content with students.
• Train students to use basic planetarium software to create and deliver their own programs for family nights at the after school venues.
• Assist selected students from the after school programs to present their shows in the main Jennifer Chalsty Planetarium at LSC.
• Present outreach programs using the portable planetarium at various venues in northern New Jersey.
• Present energetic, engaging live programs in the Jennifer Chalsty Planetarium, the largest planetarium in the Western Hemisphere, to audiences that include the general public, school groups, summer camp groups, and attendees of day and evening special events.
• Present educational programs on Science on a Sphere (the six-foot, earth science-focused globe in LSC’s Weston Family Lab), for Scout merit-badge programs, and other venues that bring astronomy and earth sciences to life for LSC’s audiences.
• Operate and perform basic maintenance on audio-visual and digital equipment, both within the planetarium and with platforms and programs used for remote educational programs.
• Facilitate Science on a Sphere presentations for potential funders, board members, and organizational partners.
• Collaborate inter-divisionally on developing and producing creative solutions that serve to strengthen LSC’s brand, mission, and revenue.
• Establish an environment conducive to learning and appropriate for the physical, social, and emotional development of our diverse audience.
• Other duties, as business needs require.

• Demonstrated ability in formal (classroom) education
• Experience in after school programming or other forms of informal education
• Excellent communication, public speaking, presentation, and interpersonal skills
• Understanding of current trends in astronomy and space science education
• Experience in presenting online programs over platforms such as Zoom and Google Meet.
• Skilled in editing and adapting video and other content to full-dome format
• Ability to…