Resources for educators

School Presentations

Bring the Sanford Underground Research Facility into your school or classroom. We have active presentation options for students in grades K-12.

Are you looking for an engaging way to leverage student’s natural curiosity and explore as yet unanswered questions in science? We’ve got plenty of inspiration for introducing the cutting-edge science and engineering that is happening at the Sanford Underground Research Facility (SURF).

We have both face-to-face and virtual options!

Let our experienced team of educators work with you to choose the perfect presentation.

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E and O Team
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Assembly Programs

Early Elementary, Upper Elementary

A Day in the Life

Take a peek into the daily operations of an underground research facility. How do scientists, researchers, and staff in other roles get underground? What do they wear? and What exactly do they do?
Early Elementary, Upper Elementary

A Most Magnificent Machine

Searching for dark matter is hard. Help students understand why doing hard things is important (and awesome!) We discuss perseverance and difficulty through the story of the search for dark matter.
Middle School

A Universe of Opportunities- Careers at SURF

Discover the wide range of skills, and people, required to make a research facility successful. Think about your own talents and how they could support the cutting-edge science taking place at SURF.
Middle School

Dark Matter–It's A Matter of Gravity!

Does dark matter actually exist, or is gravity wrong? Apply your understanding of the effects of gravity to investigate the scientific phenomena used to support the dark matter theory and decide.
Middle School

Hot Rocks-Renewable Energy from the Earth

Explore the concepts of heat transfer and heat capacity as you learn how research at Sanford Underground Research Facility is helping to inform safe, effective geothermal energy systems of the future.
Early Elementary, Upper Elementary

How Hot is It?

Help students better understand temperature through a variety of hands-on experiences. Then learn how researchers study temperatures’ effect on water after traveling through different rock depths.
High School

Is There Life In A Borehole?

Examine one of many boreholes and discover the interactions among geology, water chemistry, biology, and human activity to contemplate the possible existence of life nearly one mile underground.
High School

Neutrinos–Just Passing Through

Learn how the DUNE experiment plans to study a phenomenon called neutrino oscillation and discover why some of the tiniest particles in the universe require building immense detectors deep underground
Upper Elementary

Particle Accelerators–Smashing Science

Did you know that a scientist from Canton, South Dakota created the first circular particle accelerator? Learn how particle accelerators work and why they are indispensable when studying neutrinos.
Upper Elementary, Middle School

Safety in the Underground

Learn about important safety precautions necessary to conduct science nearly a mile underground and practice being an underground engineer in a hands-on, critical-thinking, engineering activity.
Middle School, High School

Water- Where Does it Go?

Recognize that watersheds are more than just drainage areas in and around our communities. Learn how responsible stewardship plays a crucial role in protecting the health of our local water supplies.