Classroom Programs

700x260-edu

We currently offer four programs at your classroom for students K-8th grades.

Mammals – Pelage, Skulls, and Tracks

Birds – Our Feathered Friends

Sand Secrets – Microhabitats for Invertebrates

Observations and Deductions (formerly “Private Eye”)

Archaeology – The Science of Deciphering the Past

Mammals—Pelage, Skulls, and Tracks

Approximate Length: 1 hour
Grades: K-8th
Cost: $125 per classroom (up to 35 students)
Note: 10% discount if you schedule more than 1 module per day.

The objective of this lesson is to familiarize students with local mammals, their diet, field markings, and ecological roles. The instructor accomplishes this through four activities:

  1. Facilitating a discussion to introduce the term “mammal” and discussing characteristics that make them unique to the animal kingdom.
  2. Providing a hands-on activity that introduces the students to “study skins” and the adaptive benefits of pelage coloration, from warning colorations to camouflage.
  3. Providing a hands-on activity that introduces students to “study skulls”. The skull exercise focuses on skull morphology (eye location, dentition) and the implications for influencing predator-prey relationships and diet.
  4. Introducing students to tracking mammals in the field by learning the animal’s characteristics.

Birds—Our Feathered Friends

Approximate Length: 1 hour
Grades: K-8th
Cost: $125 per classroom (up to 35 students)
Note: 10% discount if you schedule more than 1 module per day.

The objective of this lesson is to familiarize students with local birds, their diet, unique field marks, and ecological roles. The instructor accomplishes this through three activities:

  1. Facilitating a discussion to introduce the characteristics that make “Birds” unique to the animal kingdom.
  2. Providing a hands-on activity that introduces the students to “study skulls” and the unique role beak shape plays in their behavior and diet.
  3. Providing a hands-on activity that introduces students to the unique digestion process of owls through an owl pellet dissection lab activity.

Sand Secrets—Microhabitats for Invertebrates

Approximate Length: 1 hour
Grades: K-8th
Cost: $125 per classroom (up to 35 students)
Note: 10% discount if you schedule more than 1 module per day.

The objective of this lesson is to familiarize students with the origin and components that make up our sand in our dunes and local beaches. The lesson introduces the sand’s unique geology and the microhabitat it provides invertebrates. The instructor accomplishes this through three activities:

  1. Introducing the origin of our dune sand using our self produced DVD “Exploring the Geology of the Dunes.”
  2. Providing a hands-on activity where students analyze a sample of sand and learn about the component minerals.
  3. Providing a hands-on activity where students learn the basic characteristics of invertebrates then isolate the microscopic invertebrates that reside in an interstitial sample of sand from our local beaches.

Observations and Deductions

Approximate Length: 1 hour
Grades: 3-8th
Cost: $125 per classroom (up to 35 students)
Note: 10% discount if you schedule more than 1 module per day.

The objective of this lesson is to familiarize students with the components of the scientific method, specifically the development of hypotheses and the role of data collection through various methods of observation.

The instructor accomplishes this through an interactive process that includes introducing students to the concepts of developing a hypothesis and data collection through observations. This exercise includes a “guessing game” that challenges the students to make deductions about sample objects based upon their data collection.

Archaeology – The Science of Decoding the Past

Approximate Length: 1 hour
Grades: K-8th
Cost: $125 per classroom (up to 35 students)
Note: 10% discount if you schedule more than 1 module per day.

In this lesson students learn about the science of archaeology and how archaeologists use clues in the form of artifacts to piece together the story of past cultures.

The instructor accomplishes this through three activities:

  1. Introducing the study of past cultures through an inquiry-based presentation.
  2. Providing a hands-on activity in which students learn about the archaeological process by analyzing various “artifacts” to formulate ideas about past cultures.
  3. Leading an experiment in mummification designed to teach about experimental archaeologists

To learn more about our classroom programs, please contact us at 805.343.2455 or email us at admin@dunescenter.org.