Availability
Outdoor programs are available September 15 – November 20 and March 1 – May 28. All other programs are available September 15 – May 28.

Fee
$450 + free admission

Maximum group size
30 students
Note: participation in this program requires 6 adult chaperones/class

Animal Behavior Field Study
(4th-6th grade)

In this three-hour immersion, students take on the role of wildlife biologists, recording the behaviors of our bears, wolves and lemurs in Explore the Wild. We'll use iPods, binoculars, thermometers, anemometers, digital cameras and our senses to learn about and record animal behaviors. Afterwards, data, photographs, and observations are used to build student-driven websites that allow them to share their findings and continue to access the information throughout the school year.

Note: Completed from start to finish, this program fulfills NC fourth grade competency goal 1 and fifth grade competency goal 4 for science.

Click here to see the webpages designed during previous Animal Behavior Field Studies.

Sailboat Physics
(5th-7th grade)

Replace your current forces and motion curriculum of balls and ramps with our three-hour immersion, Sailboat Physics. In our lab, students will collect information and analyze how forces affect the motion of model sail-cars. Next, your class will have private access to the Museum's 5,000-square-foot Sailboat Pond and remote-controlled boats to test concepts further. Afterwards, we'll watch how sail-car racers put these physics concepts to use in competition and then explore how the same forces affect the velocity and acceleration of our model sail-cars.

Wetland Ecology Experience
(5th-8th grade)

Spend the day as limnologists in this three-hour immersion studying the wetland ecosystem. Use HACH kits and transparency tubes to collect water quality data. Then use dip nets to catch and identify organisms that live in the water and calculate a biological index.

NEW! Rainforest Expedition
(5th-8th grade)

Available September 15 – May 28
Take a guided tour through the Museum's Butterfly House. Examine epiphytes and a cacao tree, touch a red-footed tortoise and watch a live feed from our cockroach cam as we study the role of producers, consumers and decomposers. The program culminates with your class creating a stop-motion video about the rainforest ecosystem to reinforce the topics of the day and extend the learning back to your classroom.