Have the museum come to your location!

Bring the museum to your school, library, or other facility to present individual programs. Museum educators guide an inquiry-based and/or whole-language experience program based on the museum’s collections. The programs are designed to enhance and enrich your curriculum.

All program topics are available at all grade levels, even if not listed, with some adaptation of the materials. Want a natural history topic that is not listed? Please call to inquire about program development.

Click here for a note on Pennsylvania Academic Standards.

Scheduling
Presentations can accommodate a maximum of 25 students and are not suitable for assemblies or combined classrooms.
– For Assembly programs, visit Science on Stage
– For Special Needs classrooms, visit Museum on the Move

Registration
Contact Lenore Adler at 412.688.8687 or AdlerL@carnegiemnh.org.

Fee
Classroom presentations are $100 per program. Each additional presentation of the same topic on the same day is $50. For after-school programs and community programs, please inquire about pricing.

Travel expenses
Carnegie Museum of Natural History will charge one-way travel expenses in accordance with the current IRS standard mileage rate. Travel more than 76 miles may require an additional overnight fee of $100.

Pre-K, Kindergarten, and Grade 1 | Grade 2-8 | Grade 9-12 | After-School

Preschool, Kindergarten, and Grade 1
Each 45-minute presentation is based on a book and uses visual and touchable materials. A follow-up activity is supplied for the group to complete.

Backyard Insects
Take a closer look at the life cycle and the importance of many backyard insects.

Dino-mite Dinosaurs
Discover the world of dinosaurs, both carnivores and herbivores.

Dino-Story
Hear a story about a dinosaur and examine some replicas of fossils.

Funky Features: African Animals
Study the “funky features” (adaptations) of five African mammals and how they help these amazing creatures survive.

Inuit Life in the Arctic
Experience the lives of the Inuit and what it would be like to be a child of these Arctic people 100 years ago and today.

What the Eye Can See: Biodiversity
Investigate the different biomes, local habitats (woodlands, stream edge, wetlands, and agricultural lands), and the variety of life found in each.

Fossil Fun
Examine local fossils and fossilization using specimens, visuals, touchable materials, group activities, and a dinosaur replica.

Grades 2–8
Each 45-minute presentation uses visuals and touchable materials. A follow-up activity is supplied for the group to complete.

Teeth and Claws: Dinosaur Diversity
Learn what fossils can and cannot reveal about a specimen’s characteristics, adaptations, and behaviors.

Biodiversity of the Insect World
Discover how humans interact with the insect world, insect biodiversity, insects that are specialists and generalists, and some aspects of pest management.

Biodiversity of Western Pennsylvania's Biomes: Living on the Edge
Discuss the interdependencies among the different native species and the abiotic (non-living) elements of the environment. Invasive, rare, threatened, and endangered species are included in the discussion.

Biodiversity: Predator and Prey on the African Savanna
Examine the interrelationships at work on the African savanna, emphasizing symbiotic, mutual, and predator/prey interdependencies.

Past Cultures: An Archaeological Journey into Egyptian Life
Use archaeological evidence uncovered at the ancient village of Deir el-Medina, along with the geography and environment of the Nile Valley, to take a look at the everyday life of Egyptians 3,500 years ago.

Past Cultures: Surviving the Challenge—Inuit Life in the Arctic
Probe the adaptations made by the Inuit to survive in the harsh conditions of the Arctic more than 100 years ago, along with a look at life today in Nunuvat, Canada.

Past Cultures: Seneca Indians - the Traditional Life of the Haudenosaunee
Study the gender roles and use of resources for survival among the 17th century Iroquois in an environment similar to western Pennsylvania.

Grades 9–12
All topics may be adapted for high schoolers. Each 45-minute presentation uses visuals and touchable materials.

After-school (Topic Focus) Programming

This 45-minute program uses visuals, touchables, and take-home projects to integrate topics from Carnegie Museum of Natural History into fun learning. All of the Traveling Classroom topics are available for in-depth, multiple-session study. After-school classes for no more than 25 students (within a three-grade-level span) may be arranged for two to six weekly sessions.

Pricing depends on number of sessions and distance from the museum.

Scientists at Work (Four-Week Program)
Students observe, measure, classify, predict, create a model, test, and communicate information using real techniques employed by our own researchers.

Academic Standards and Museum Programs

Carnegie Museum of Natural History can help you address state standards.

If you teach in Ohio or West Virginia or are required to address national standards in your work, we can assist you in identifying the corresponding relevant standards for each museum program.

Connections are readily apparent between museum programs and a multitude of the academic standards for science & technology, environment & ecology, geography, and history. Less well-known are the ways in which the museum’s versatile teaching resources can enhance lessons that address standards for arts & humanities or reading, writing, speaking, and listening. Art teachers have long utilized taxidermy mounts from the museum’s loan program as drawing models, and in recent years, some English teachers have used archived news releases from the Web site for creative writing assignments. We will continue to share information about using the museum to meet standards, so if you and your colleagues develop effective lesson units that utilize the museum's materials, please let us know about them.