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Online Zoo Website

Video Webcast with a Smithsonian Scientist- teachers can set up a date where they can video chat with a Smithsonian scientist that can take the class through a virtual tour, answering any questions on the museum the student may have.

Teacher Resources

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Primarily 2nd grade but can be altered for students through 6th grade

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Benefits of a Field Trip to the Smithsonian

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Benefits of a Field Trip to the Smithsonian

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Allowing students to take a virtual tour of the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History could be highly beneficial as this exposes students to animals, habitats, and learning opportunities that they may not have had access to otherwise. For this experience specifically, students would have a chance to explore various ecosystems across the world, including mammals from each continent, ocean habitats, and the evolution of mankind.

Additionally, the Smithsonian has resources in which a teacher can schedule a live webcast with a Smithsonian Scientist. Due to the field trip being virtual only, this aspect of the experience would give students a supplemental opportunity to interact directly with the content of this activity.

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Brief description of the interactive activity that accompanies the field trip

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Brief description of the interactive activity that accompanies the field trip

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Students will be instructed to go on a scavenger hunt to each exhibit, virtually, and record their observations from various parts of the museum on a guided recording sheet.

The students will be sent home with with instructions for a "Create Your Own Habitat" project, where they will be given 2 weeks to make their own habitat in a shoe box based on any habitat they observed in the virtual field trip.

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After a lesson on biodiversity and a class trip to the Smithsonian, students will demonstrate an understanding that different types of plants and animals live in a variety of habitats that best fit their biological needs by observing several animals and plants in their habitats, recording their observations onto their recording sheet, and making their own habitat with a shoe box including all the different plants and animals they observed.

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2-LS4-1. Make observations of plants and animals to compare the diversity of life in different habitats.

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When Curriculum Meets Art: Giardina, N. (2016). When Curriculum Meets Art. Educational Leadership, 74(2), 70–74.
http://proxy.geneseo.edu:3364/ehost/detail/detail?vid=0&sid=c93574c7-c723-4457-aae5-ceada5054bd7%40pdc-v-sessmgr01&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZSZzY29wZT1zaXRl#AN=EJ1116573&db=eric

iGardening: Integrated Activities for Teaching in the Common Core Era :
Cavin, A., Elfer C. J. & Roberts, S. L. (2014). IGardening: Integrated Activities for Teaching in the Common Core Era. Social Studies and the Young Learner, 26(2), 5-9.
https://www.socialstudies.org/sites/default/files/images/documents/26045.pdf

Farmer, J., Knapp, D., & Benton, G. M. (2007). An Elementary School Environmental Education Field Trip: Long-Term Effects on Ecological and Environmental Knowledge and Attitude Development. Journal of Environmental Education, 38(3), 33–42.
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.3200/JOEE.38.3.33-42

WHEELER, G. (2011). FIELD TRIPS: Tradition in Jeopardy. Education Digest, 76(9), 52–55.
http://proxy.geneseo.edu:2638/ehost/detail/detail?vid=0&sid=72d05ecc-d5bc-4e82-9ce8-3464a7a48458%40sdc-v-sessmgr02&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZSZzY29wZT1zaXRl#AN=60226902&db=trh

Ecosystem desert shoebox. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.pinterest.com/pin/473722454534366733/

Forest habitat. shoe box project. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.pinterest.com/pin/
473722454534366733/

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Virtual Field Trip to the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History

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Virtual Field Trip to the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History

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During this virtual field trip, students will watch the teacher explore the Smithsonian website and learn where animals from all over the world live. They will take a virtual tour of the museum led by the teacher and look at images of various animals from four different exhibits and read facts about their habitats. They will also get the chance to listen to a Smithsonian scientist through a video webcast.

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Michaela VanWormer
Tallia Maness
Marissa Carroll
Rebecca Kirchberger
Jessica Mahoney

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Museums are often free, especially for students. The Smithsonian is free. Children who come from families who struggle financially especially tend to love using the museums for their benefit.

Parenting expert Dawn Lantero said field trips are extremely important because a lot of learning is experiential. According to David Becker, president of the Illinois Association of Museums and director of learning services at the Brookfield Zoo, field trips provide experiences many children will never get otherwise. “We offer students the opportunity to see the real-life examples of things they would just normally see in pictures”.

Field trips are often memorable experiences that can shape students future attitudes and learning. James Farmer and additional researchers discovered that one year after a trip to Great Smoky Mountains National Park, fourth graders remembered what they saw and heard, causing them to “develop a perceived pro-environmental attitude.”