School Programs & Educator Events

Available for bookings now!

2022 VSA Heart Science Standards

Get your students' pulse going with this live dissection experience. Your class will participate in interactive experiments and discussion, as well as guide the dissection of a real sheep heart.

Available for bookings now!

2022 VSA Lung Science Standards

Take your classes' breath away as they get to peer inside the respiratory system. Explore lung anatomy while observing a sheep lung dissection and participate in activities, then make observations to learn how the respiratory system works.

Available for bookings now!

2022 VSA New Me Science Standards

Explore the physical, emotional and chemical changes to the human body during a sensitive, respectful, co-ed discussion led by a professional educator. Ask honest questions and get honest answers. This class is now only offered as a Distance Learning course.

Date: Thursday, November 21, 2024
Times: 9:00am, 10:00am, 11:00am, 1:00pm Mountain Time
Created for grades 4-12, but all are welcome.
 

Did you know that you share over 60% of your genetic makeup with a banana? And compared to other humans, you have 99.9% identical genes? It makes you wonder: if humans are separated from one another by a mere .01%, how can we still be so different? And what exactly do these different genes control? Join Dr. Bridget Chalifour, genomics scientist at the Denver Museum of Nature & Science, to learn more about the incredible nature of genetics, mutations, and all the ways they make us unique. Register your classes today and get ready to talk DNA!

Date: Thursday, December 12, 2024
Time: 9 a.m., 10 a.m., 11 a.m., and 1 p.m. Mountain Time
Created for grades 4-12, but all are welcome.

When you think of animal life in Madagascar, is the first thing that comes to mind fossils? If you said “no” and instead thought of dancing lemurs or adorable tenrecs, you might not be alone. But while the country is rich in its biodiversity today, it has a rich history of biodiversity in the past as well – the prehistoric past, in fact! Join the Denver Museum of Nature & Science to talk with some of the scientists studying Madagascar's former inhabitants: basketball-sized armored frogs, mammals with Swiss-cheese skulls, dome-headed dinosaurs, and much more. What do these amazing creatures tell us about the dino days? And what kind of international science community is built as humans study these fascinating fossils?

Join us for the 4th Annual Rocky Mountain Mind, Brain & Education Conference hosted by Denver Museum of Nature & Science in partnership with researchED. This conference brings together K–12 educators and university researchers with a common interest in applying research-based methods from psychology and neuroscience to their practice.

Date: Saturday, November 9th, 2024

Time: 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.

The world of school learning has been undergoing a lot of re-examination recently, especially with changes brought on by: COVID, a stronger focus on equity, and the increasing promise and peril of technology access and use.

Teachers and Students alike struggle to cultivate ownership and overcome disengagement.

In this course we will learn about 4 well-researched and supported theories of classroom motivation, and springboard into some evidence-based practices and new inspiration for use tomorrow in your classroom!

Face-to-Face Sessions Jan 11, Jan 25, Feb 8, 2025 (required for credit only), 8am-3:30pm (same all three days)

On-Line Implementation Jan 13 -Feb 10, 2025  1.5-2 hrs per week (also required for credit only.)

Contact us at [email protected] to schedule.

Must be ages 4-7 years old

Wild Senses Lesson Plan

We will transform your room into a natural wonderland ready to be explored. Young learners take on animal behaviors to experience the natural world around them, as animals would. Kids smell out their food like a squirrel, hunt in the dark like a raccoon, and use infrared detection to see prey like a snake. An adventurous Museum educator will guide your explorers as they discover adaptation and senses firsthand through animals’ wild senses. This program will amaze and delight your animals—er, kids—with pretend play and fun, educational activities.

Transformaremos su habitación en un paraíso natural listo para ser explorado. Los niños adoptan comportamientos animales para experimentar el mundo natural que les rodea como lo harían los animales. Los niños huelen su comida como una ardilla, cazan en la oscuridad como un mapache y utilizan la detección por infrarrojos para ver a sus presas como una serpiente. Un aventurero educador del Museo guiará a sus exploradores mientras descubren de primera mano la adaptación y los sentidos a través de los sentidos salvajes de los animales. Este programa sorprenderá y deleitará a sus animales -o a sus hijos- con juegos de simulación y actividades divertidas y educativas.

Mission to Mars Lesson Plan

With space exploration comes the search for future astronauts with critical thinking, problem solving, and collaboration skills to someday man these future missions. This lesson simulates some real-world problems that astronauts face while instilling the basics of circuitry, programing, comprehensive reading, teamwork, and more using the Colorado Academic Standards’ Science and Engineering Practices. Students will also explore physical differences between our home planet and Mars as well as the intricacies of inter-planetary travel, including the hazards posed to human explorers.

Emprende un viaje de descubrimiento desde tu propia sala de clase para conocer las características únicas de Marte y los retos a los que se enfrentan los astronautas y científicos en la exploración espacial. Este programa desafiará a sus estudiantes a trabajar en equipo, usar razonamiento crítico y comunicación para resolver rompecabezas y diseñar el futuro de los viajes espaciales utilizando las Prácticas de Ciencia e Ingeniería de los Estándares Académicos de Colorado. ¡Sus astronautas jóvenes se quedarán con una mejor comprensión de lo que implica el viaje espacial y con más interés en nuestro sistema solar y más allá!

Body Systems in Motion Lesson Plan

Get your class moving in this high energy program filled with physical challenges. Your students will learn about three separate body systems, the circulatory, musculoskeletal, and nervous systems, that work together to carry out everyday tasks through hands-on interactions with larger-than-life activities. Students will be challenged to use critical thinking and communication skills to operate a working leg, cycle through the respiratory system as cells, and race to translate signals from the eye to catch a flying object.

Haz mover a tu clase con este programa lleno de energía y retos físicos. Sus alumnos aprenderán sobre tres sistemas corporales distintos, el circulatorio, el musculoesquelético y el nervioso, que trabajan juntos para completar actividades cotidianas. Sus alumnos se enfrentarán a retos como utilizar el pensamiento crítico y las capacidades de comunicación para hacer funcionar una pierna, recorrer el sistema respiratorio en forma de células y correr para traducir las señales del ojo y atrapar un objeto volador.

Available for bookings now!

Discover the marvels of natural engineering! Explore the secrets of nature’s best fliers as your students build gliders and experiment with wing structures inspired by insects, birds, and bats. Imaginations will soar as your students learn about flight through this hands-on design challenge. A maximum of 105 students can be accommodated over three days.

From tropical rainforests to saltwater shores—surprise, discovery, and creativity await! Dig into Colorado’s past using the scientific process as paleontologists and geologists do. Analyze evidence and iconic discoveries, and create simulations of Colorado’s lost worlds where dinosaurs once roamed.

Harness the power of Colorado’s natural resources in this hands-on game of geographic discovery and real-world ingenuity. Teams will be challenged to power cities across Colorado while balancing energy needs with environmental impacts and cost. Colorado’s future is in the hands of your students!

Preview the program here:

Runtime: 45 minutes

Experience the ultimate G.O.A.T. — Greatest of All Tyrants — as it roars to life on the giant screen in the film "T. REX." For over a century, the T. rex has reigned as the undisputed king of the dinosaurs. With state-of-the-art CGI and cutting-edge paleontological insights, this movie offers an unprecedented journey into the world of the T. rex and its fellow Cretaceous carnivores. This movie features scientists from the Denver Museum of Nature & Science unearthing a teenage T. rex. Don’t miss the chance to see the real-world fossil now on display in our temporary experience “Discovering Teen Rex.”

Runtime: 45 minutes

Now accepting bookings for programs!

Dig up Colorado’s prehistoric past! Use real prehistoric evidence found in fossil analysis to become a junior paleontologist. This immersive experience allows students to interact with authentic prehistoric specimens and gather clues from ancient plants and animals. Then, embark on an extraordinary journey into the Museum's special exhibition "Discovering Teen Rex" to witness Museum paleontologists excavating a rare juvenile T. rex fossil, which is only one of four found worldwide.

Now accepting bookings for programs (October 11, 2024-January 19, 2025)! 

In this fun, interactive adventure, your students will participate in a facilitated program highlighting adaptations of animals in six different habitats using Museum collections.  Then, students have the opportunity to visit the Museum's temporary exhibition, Animals of the Rainforest, where they will encounter fascinating live animals and discover the wonders of the rainforest.

Now accepting bookings for programs!

In our Unraveling Mummies Field Trip Adventure, students use CT imaging and dissections of a real sheep heart to dig into the culture, anatomy, and mummification & burial practices exercised by ancient Egyptians.

Now accepting bookings for programs!

In this facilitated studio program, your students will be immersed in a Colorado habitat as they become black bears and search for food, water, and shelter. Also, explore the Bears & Sea Mammals diorama halls using an exhibit guide that is designed to connect your class with the exhibition and learn through play in the Discovery Zone.