The South Dakota Discovery Center offers teachers inquiry based, hands-on learning resources that will address standards (important for the teacher) and make learning fun (important for the students). Whether you want to check out a kit to teach about geology, attend a workshop to build your capacity to teach in the outdoors or schedule a visit to the SD Discovery Center with your class, this is your starting point on our website.

Professional Development Opportunities
The SD Discovery Center offers accredited professional development opportunities for all educators (pre-service, para-professional, in-service).  Check back often for new opportunities!

GEMS
The South Dakota Discovery Center now offers even more Great Explorations in Math and Science (GEMS)! Through an affiliation with the GEMS program from the Lawrence Hall of Science public science education center at the University of California Berkely, the SD Discovery Center has expanded its ability to train and equip teachers with effective, high quality professional development and classroom kits. Check out our GEMS page for a list of kits that you can bring into your classroom. 

SD Project WET (Water Education for Teachers)
The South Dakota Discovery Center houses Project WET, which trains and equips educators to incorporate water education into their teaching. Professional development opportunities are offered for credit during the summer OR you may schedule a workshop on site.  WET workshops can be conducted with Project WILD and/or Project Learning Tree for the ultimate in environmental education preparation.

Also, be sure to check out our Water Education Resource page. 

Family Festivals
These festivals are designed to make it as easy as possible to host a fun, educational family event. Choose between family water festival or build it night.  These are especially useful for those looking to do a parent night.
Funding for the development of these kits is provided by a SD Department of Education 21st Century Community Learning Centers grant to the SD Discovery Center..

All festivals include:
--set-up instructions, with photos for easy use
--activity station step-by-step plans for the families, with photos
--majority of the festival's supplies
--journals for each family to use during the festival and take home as a souvenir.
 

SD Leopold Education Project
The Leopold Education Project (LEP) is a conservation and environmental education curriculum based on the writings of conservationist Aldo Leopold, specifically A Sand County Almanac. The Leopold Education Project uses multi-disciplinary activities which foster critical thinking to teach about humanity's ties to the natural environment.  The mission of the LEP is to create an ecologically literate citizenry so that each individual might develop a personal land ethic.

Van Programs
Bring one of our exciting programs  that addresses standards with hands-on, inquiry based activities to your school.  Explore states of matter, go on a journey with Lewis & Clark or learn to navigate the night sky in our portable planetarium

Exhibit Hall Visit
Bringing your class to Pierre? Schedule a visit to the SD Discovery Center, the  Capitol and the Cultural Heritage Center to provide your students with the best educational site visits that Pierre has to offer. Register for the SD Discovery Center visit online or call 605-224-8295 to arrange your visit.  (You will have to book your Capitol and CHC trips separately).
Exhibit Hall Information | Capitol Information | Cultural Heritage Center Information

We are happy to accommodate groups outside of regular exhibit hall hours. 

Price information:

	With School Check	Without School Check
K - 6th Grade	$2.50	$2.70
Grade 7 - 12	$3.30	$3.57
Parents/Chaperone	$3.30	$3.57

School employees (teachers, bus drivers, aides) are free!

If you have a BankWest in your community, you are eligible for reduced price programs such as our popular StarLab planetarium show. Click here to find out if you are eligible. Go back

Program Scholarship
Your class may be eligible to receive reduced price programming!

Coming to the SD Discovery Center?  Enjoy one of our programs:

Star Lab - our portable planetarium show will elicit oohs and aahs AND teach your students about the constellations.  $50 per half hour show.

Watershed Investigations - What's a watershed?  Hands-on investigations and learning about the watershed.  Grades 3 - 5, 6 - 12.  $100 per hour program.

HOP exhibits  - We have six traveling programs through our Hands-on Partnership and each has fun, hands on programming.  Grade K - 6.   $100 per hour program.

Leopold Education Project - Great hands-on program that blends natural science, ecology, geography and literature.  Grades 4 - 12.  $100 per hour program.

Missouri River Expedition Journal
Use this journal to guide your students through ecological exploration, Lewis & Clark style.

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Classroom Memberships

A classroom membership to the SD Discovery Center provides unlimited, low cost access to teaching guides, kits and exhibits for an entire year.

Benefits

Unlimited free admission to the SD Discovery Center exhibit hall for one year.  A trip to the SD Discovery Center is great for kicking off and ending the school year or as a class reward.  Visit during units on electricity and magnetism, aquatic biology and light and mirrors to utilize exhibits that teach these concepts.

No rental fees on teaching kits, backpacks and GEMS kits and guides (shipping and restocking fees may apply).

First invited to special school programs.

Download a membership form (requires PDF reader such as Adobe Acrobat) and send, with payment, to:

SD Discovery Center
805 W Sioux Ave.
Pierre, SD 57501

For an electronic membership form in MS Word, email Anne Lewis at annelewis@sd-discovery.com.