Science Programs List

‘Egg’-cellent Energy for Everyone – 4th Grade

“Egg-cellent Energy for Everyone” 4th Grade:– The Earth is a machine which can produce energy on a magnitude hard to comprehend.  Humans have discovered ways to harness this energy in renewable and non-renewable ways (ESS3-1). This program is an opportunity to compare the pros and cons of many energy sources (ESS3-2).  We will then take […]

‘Eye’ Saw That – 4th Grade

‘Eye’ Saw That – 4th Grade: – Birds have some of the keenest eyesight on planet Earth.  But, how does it work (4-PS4-2)? This program explores the superpower of avian vision.  We will compare and contrast bird vision with how humans view the world using raptors as our primary example (4-LS1-1, 4-LS1-2).  Live raptors, activities/games appropriate […]

8-4-1, One for All

Students discuss water user management and navigate an obstacle course simulating challenges on a “river”. Adapted from Project Wet, pg. 299. Cross Disciplinary Concepts: A system can be described in terms of its components and their interactions. Vocabulary: Resource, ocean, land, industry, agriculture, renewable

A Duck Out of Water – 3rd Grade

“A Duck Out of Water” – 3rd Grade – Birds evolved from dinosaurs and early reptiles (3-LS4-1).  Over many millions of years their adaptations have become quite complex and specific, allowing bird to survive in an incredible variety of places using a wide variety of strategies (3-LS4-2).  This program explores the origins of birds, their […]

Adaptation Station – Kindergarten

Kindergarten: “Adaptation Station” – This program explores the many ways in which birds are adapted for survival in Jackson Hole and beyond.  We will explore weather patterns, how humans use birds for survival (i.e. – down coats) and what we can do to help birds in our own backyard get through all types of extreme […]

Animals Over Winter

1st Grade Program Description: Students will determine how wildlife have adapted to the challenges they experience during winter. Students will explore three responses to winter: adaptation, migration, and hibernation. Students will investigate the physical adaptations of wolves and connect how humans mimic their winter response. Students will explore the responses of hibernators and migrators and […]

Antlers & Horns

Students will compare and contrast antlers and horns and discuss how these structures are used in terms of survival, finding mates, and reproduction. Cross Disciplinary Concepts: Observable phenomena exist from very short to very long time periods. Vocabulary: adaptation, characteristic, compete, environment, habitat, mate, migrate, offspring, reproduce, survive, and variation. Virtual Program: Program can be […]

Are You Me?

Students observe wildlife photos of adults and their young then play game to match juveniles to their parents. Adapted from Aquatic Wild, pg. 2. Cross Disciplinary Concepts: Vocabulary:

Ask Dr. Sam

Ask Dr. Sam is a student-driven, in-person or virtual program during which the Founder and Executive Director of Wyoming Stargazing, Dr. Sam, will present some astronomical content of your choosing and then provide opportunities for students to direct the remainder of the lesson based on their curiousities. We’ll use web-based images, videos, and applets to […]

Beautiful Basics

Students list the needs of people, domestic, and wild animals in order to determine their basic survival needs, or habitat components. Adapted from Project Wild, pg. 58. Cross Disciplinary Concepts: Vocabulary:

Bird Beak Buffet

Students will determine which habitats are best suited for various bird species by investigating their beak and food gathering abilities. Students will be given various tools, modeled after different bird beaks, and they will explore the successes and challenges of various tools under certain conditions. Cross Disciplinary Concepts: Cause and effect relationships are routinely identified […]

Bison, Tribes, and Symbols Classroom Visit

Learn about the various uses of Bison and their importance to local tribes through hands-on activities. Cross-cutting Concept: Native American tribes have had connections to the Tetons for over 11,000 years and still do today. Tribes are diverse and every tribe has its own traditions, culture, languages, symbols, beliefs, and relationships to the environment. Bison […]

Build a Bison

Students will build a bison by decorating a group member with various props that are representations of bison anatomy. The educational focus of this program is the role the anatomical structures play in bison adaptation and survival. Cross Disciplinary Concepts: A system can be described in terms of its components and their interactions. Vocabulary: adaptation, […]

Build a Duck

Students will build a duck by decorating a group member with various props that are representations of duck anatomy. The educational focus of this program is the role the anatomical structures play in ducks adaptations and survival. Cross Disciplinary Concepts: A system can be described in terms of its components and their interactions. Vocabulary: adaptation, warm-blooded, […]

Build a Wolf

Students will build a wolf by decorating a group member with various props that are representations of wolf anatomy. The educational focus of this program is the role anatomical structures play in wolf adaptation and survival. Cross Disciplinary Concepts: A system can be described in terms of its components and their interactions. Vocabulary: adaptation, canine […]

Build an Elk

Students will build an elk by decorating a group member with various props that are representations of elk anatomy. The educational focus of this program is the role anatomical structures play in elk adaptation and survival. Cross Disciplinary Concepts: A system can be described in terms of its components and their interactions. Vocabulary: adaptation, conservation, […]

Camouflage and Color

Students look at pictures of wildlife and discuss how color is an adaptation to their environment that helps them to survive. They also create colorful or camouflaged creatures.  Adapted from Project Wild, pgs. 2 and 120. Cross Disciplinary Concepts: Cause and effect relationships are routinely identified and used to explain change. Vocabulary: arctic, characteristic, compete, […]

Characteristics, Life Cycles, and Management of Insects, 3rd Grade

This program consists of three 80-minute lessons: 1) Insect Characteristics and Structures, 2) Insect Life Cycles / 2-Week Observation of Complete Metamorphosis,      3) Mosquito Life History and Management.      1) Insect Characteristics and Structures: Learning Objective:  Students will learn to identify the characteristics of insects and relate insect structures to their function […]

Class on a Raft

Class-on-a-Raft program incorporates a scenic float from Wilson to South Park exploring riparian habitats, wildlife/fisheries issues, macroinvertebrates, human development, map reading, and more for 5th grade students. This is a direct program of SRF and is hosted through donated float trips from local rafting companies.

Continents and Oceans

Students explore different types of maps and globes and discuss regions of the world before playing 2 different games to test their knowledge of geography, wildlife, human inhabitants and climates of the 7 continents and 5 oceans. Cross Disciplinary Concepts: Vocabulary: 

CREST

Provides student engagements during teacher in-service days. Field based programming in local wild spaces and parks that can be customized to meet student and teacher goals. Historically we’ve worked with 4th and 5th grade students but have worked with younger students at their schools and in the field. 2nd Grade Cross Disciplinary Principles: Events have […]

Distance Learning: Snow Desk!

The park offers three programs from Snow Desk, each tailored to certain grade levels. All of these programs will be broadcast to you live, via Zoom, Teams or Google Hangout, from a desk made of snow at the base of the Teton Range. No matter the topic, it will be an amazing setting and a […]

Earth History Classroom Visit

Students learn about what geologists study, learn about local rocks and rock types in an interactive rock lab, and re-create the Teton mountain range and glaciation process with a hands-on model. This program is offered in two versions, 1st-3rd grade and 4th-6th grade. 1st-3rd Grade Option: By the end of the program students should understand […]

Eco-Teambuilding Field Trip

Learning about how relationships form ecological communities and connecting them to familiar relationships in human communities. Cross-cutting Concept: For those living with limited access to National Parks and natural areas, thinking of community seldom includes the natural communities intertwined with our human communities. Through learning about how relationships form ecological communities and connecting them to […]

Energized Ecosystems

Students will determine how energy is transferred through organisms in an ecosystem and be able to describe the process. Furthermore, students will explore the dynamic and important relationships that exist among organisms in an ecosystem. This lesson includes a lecture and two activities (Build an Elk & Build a Wolf). Cross-cutting Concepts: Energy can be transferred in […]

Ethical Thinking

Students discuss human activities that may be harmful to wildlife and plants, as well as changes people can make to improve wildlife habitat. Adapted from Project Wild, pg 303. Cross Disciplinary Concepts:  Vocabulary:

Everybody Needs a Home

Students determine that all living creatures need shelter by drawing their homes as well as an animal’s home with access to food and water. Adapted from Project Wild, pg. 59. Cross Disciplinary Concepts: Vocabulary:

Flowers, Fruits, Seeds and Weeds, 2nd Grade

This program consists of three 60-minute lessons: 1) The Purpose of a Flower, 2) What a Seed Needs, 3) Seed Dispersal and Invasive Plants.    1) The Purpose of a Flower: Learning Objective: Students will use models and specimens to review the structures of a flowering plant and their functions (roots, stem, leaves, flower), learn […]

Habitats

Students will investigate the concept of habitats and biodiversity. Students will make observations of plants and animals to compare the diversity of life in different habitats. Vocabulary: adaptation, biodiversity, conservation, ecosystem, ecotone, and habitat. Virtual Program: Program can be hosted through Zoom or in a Google Classroom. The teacher requesting the program must set up […]

Habitracks

Students use a map of the school to find the four components of habitat hidden around campus. Adapted from Project Wild, pg. 53. Cross Disciplinary Concepts: Vocabulary:

How Far is that Star?

5th Grade Program Description: This lesson uses the scientific method to guide students through an in-class experiment using flashlights to determine how the distance from a light source such as a flashlight or a star effects how bright the light appears to the observer. We can offer this program virtually by droping the supplies off […]

Incredible Journey

Students explore the water cycle by playing a game and creating a beaded bracelet or necklace. Adapted from Project Wet, pg. 155. Cross Disciplinary Concepts: Vocabulary:

Invasive Species in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem, 5th Grade

This program consists of three 90-minute lessons: 1) Limiting Factors in Ecosystems, 2) The Impact of Invasive Species on a Model Elk Population, 3) Managing Invasive Species. 1) Limiting Factors in Ecosystems: Learning Objectives: Students will learn that limiting factors, both abiotic and biotic, support biodiversity and maintain ecosystems in a stable state by preventing […]

JHCM Energy Workshop

Students examine the Law of Conservation of Energy, which states that energy is neither created or destroyed. Through interactive lab stations, they explore seven different types of energy (light, heat, gravitational, motion, mechanical, chemical, sound, electricity) and determine how energy can be transformed form one type to another as well as the concepts of potential […]

JHCM Engineering and Design Lab: Exploring the Properties of Materials

Students investigate and test the properties of different materials using the scientific method at five different stations where they explore the properties of hardness, flexibility, strength, shape and water resistance/ absorbency. They use these observations to design and build doll houses that can withstand different climatic and environmental problems using a variety of recycled materials. […]

JHCM Force and Motion and Simple Machines: Car Build

Making cars with spinning wheels and axles, using REMIDA materials, that can be pushed and pulled.

JHCM Mimicry Lab

Students explore the concept of mimicry and biomimicry through interactive and imaginative games, labs and a final invention project.  They compare and contrast human inventions that have been inspired by the amazing adaptations of plants and animals. We focus on the adaptation of flight and how humans have mimicked birds, flying squirrels, insects, and even […]

JHCM Sir Isaac Newton Force and Motion Workshop

Students plan, design, engineer, test and improve their very own Newton Racers (a cardboard car) using recycled materials.  Students then use their cars to test Sir Isaac Newton’s Three Laws of Motion: The Law of Inertia, The Law of Acceleration and the Law that states, for every action there is an equal or opposite reaction.   […]

JHCM Sound Lab

Students explore how we can hear, feel, and see sound waves through interactive and very LOUD sound stations that include:  a Theremin, Chladni plates, tuning forks with water, sand and ping pong balls, random instruments and our very own handmade wave gumdrop wave simulator.  Students are encouraged to jot notes and observations in their science […]

JHCM Variables in Chemistry Lab

Chemistry Experiment: Students explore and test experimental variables in this interactive and colorful cabbage chemistry lab.  In five lab stations that exhibit simple chemical reactions and large models of atoms and molecules, students discover the building blocks of chemistry and chemical reactions while also creating independent, dependent and control variables in experiments.  The culminating experiment […]

Kinesthetic Astronomy

Kindergarten Cross Disciplinary Concepts: Patterns in the natural and human designed world can be observed and used as evidence. Kindergarten Vocabulary: cloudy, cold, rainy, sunny, snowy, sunlight, temperature, warm, windy 1st Grade Program Description: Our Kinesthetic Astronomy lessons have the students use their bodies to simulate the motion of Earth around the Sun and the Moon around […]

Matter Matters – 5th Grade

“Matter Matters” – 5th Grade:  “They’re just birds.  It’s just a balloon. One piece of litter doesn’t matter.”  This program will help us understand that every choice, every day, matters and makes a difference.  We will take a deeper look into the research of Teton Raptor Center and piece together how individual efforts across the […]

Meat, Beak, Feet…. and Seeds? – 2nd Grade

2nd Grade (2 of 2): “Meat, Beak, Feet… and Seeds?” – Raptors are powerful predators.  They can do everything a tiger can do… and they can fly!  But, raptors also fill a critical role in helping disperse seeds for plants through secondary seed dispersal.  Without birds, many plants would be in quite the pickle to […]

Meet the Fire Triangle

Move Over Rover

Students create posters of different habitats and play a game to determine which animals belong to each habitat type, Project Wild, pg. 144. Cross Disciplinary Concepts: Observable phenomena exist from very short to very long time periods. Cause and effect relationships are routinely identified and used to explain change. Vocabulary: arctic, characteristic, compete, desert, environment, habitat, human, […]

My Uncle’s Cousin’s Mother was a Tulip – 5th Grade

“My Uncle’s Cousin’s Mother was a Tulip “ – 5th Grade:  There are connections and cycles everywhere in the environment.  The air, water, earth and organisms of our planet are deeply interdependent and energy is in constant movement between them  (ESS2-1, LS1-2). During this program we will use raptors as the starting point for a […]

Opposable Thumbs

Students identify animals with opposable thumbs, and throw balls with and without the use of their thumbs to appreciate how helpful opposable thumbs can be. Students then discuss different foot and paw adaptations and create an animal track of their own with plaster of paris. Cross Disciplinary Concepts: The shape and stability of structures of natural […]

Pass the Plants Please

Students identify all the parts of plants then highlight the edible ones. We then make guacamole while identifying the plant parts used in the dish. Adapted from Project Learning Tree, pg. 77. Cross Disciplinary Concepts: A system can be described in terms of its components and their interactions. Vocabulary: adaptation, bud, carbon dioxide, climate, external structure, flower, […]

Planetarium Programs

1st Grade Program Description: We use our inflatable planetarium to help students understand the apparent motion of objects in the sky during each night, the changes in positions of the stars throughout the year, and changes of daylight hours throughout the year. 1st Grade Cross Disciplinary Concepts: Patterns in the natural world can be observed, used […]

Read “Owl” About It – 1st Grade

1st Grade: “Read ‘Owl’ About It” – This program can move in a variety of directions, depending on the needs of a group, but owls are the focus.  We may explore their incredible vision (1-PS4-1), learn ways in which humans affect their survival for better and for worse (1-LS1-1), investigate how owls are adapted for […]

Road to Zero Waste/Environmental Science Tours and Presentations

The first step in understanding zero waste is understanding how materials flow through our society. With industrialization and convenience-based products, this flow has become increasingly linear – more and more raw materials are extracted from the earth, then manufactured, consumed and all too quickly, disposed of in landfills. This pattern leaves us with a one-way […]

Rock the Tetons Field Trip

Students explore rocks, landscapes, and maps to find evidence of erosion and uplift that made the Teton range. This field trip is designed for Grade 4 but can be adapted for Grades 2-7. Cross Disciplinary Concepts: Things may change slowly or rapidly. Patterns can be used as evidence to support an explanation. Cause and effect […]

Rube Goldberg Machines

Kindergarten – 5th Grade Program Description: Rube Goldberg machine activities are hands-and-minds-on engaging experiences that can easily be adapted for all grade levels and lengths of classroom learning times.  We can offer this program virtually by droping the supplies off with you and instructing the lesson over Zoom. Rube Goldeberg was an award winning cartoonist […]

Seasons & Wildlife Field Trip

Students use inquiry, outdoor exploration, and observation of scientific resources such as animal furs and antlers to understand animal adaptations. Students will learn about how animals change how they move, what they wear, and what they eat in each season. Depending on the time of year, there can also be the opportunity for a hike […]

Seeing is Believing

Students discuss and identify vision as an adaptation by using binoculars, kaleidoscopes and fisheye mirrors to simulate different types of vision and determine what types of animals see in which way and how it would help them to survive. Adapted from Project Wild, pg. 116. Cross Disciplinary Concepts: The shape and stability of structures of natural […]

Shadow Changes

This lesson uses flashlights and Lego pieces to help students explore how the length of shadows changes throughout the day and throughout the year. At the end of the lesson they will understand that the position of the Sun in the sky determines the length of shadows and that the change in the Sun’s position […]

Shelters and Nests

Students construct shelters out of provided materials for assigned animals and test their strength. The same is done for nests with eggs in them that are dropped from a height.  Cross Discipline Concepts: Vocabulary:

Silt, a Dirty Word

Students engage in an experiment to show how water flow and oxygen levels are affected by different materials in a stream- gravel, sand and silt. Adapted from Aquatic Wild, pg. 266. Cross Disciplinary Concepts: Simple tests can be designed to gather evidence to support or refute student ideas about causes. Vocabulary: No proficiency scale found

Skins, Skulls, Antlers and Horns

Students explore and discuss different animal parts to determine their adaptations for survival. Cross Disciplinary Concepts: Observable phenomena exist from very short to very long time periods. Cause and effect relationships are routinely identified and used to explain change. Vocabulary: arctic, characteristic, compete, desert, environment, habitat, human, inherited, mate, member, migrate, mountain, need, ocean, offspring, organism, […]

Snake River Inquiry

4th Grade programs: Partner with Teton County Weed & Pest – Wildlife Expo.

Sound Scouts – 4th Grade

“Sound Scouts” – 4th Grade: – Teton Raptor Center has developed cutting edge technology to listen to the forest without having to be there in person.  ‘Sound Scouts’ are recording devices that the TRC research team deploys into the woods for 2 weeks at a time. These devices then “listen” to all of the animal […]

Spandex Gravity Demonstration

5th Grade Program Description: This lesson uses a large piece of black spandex and several balls of different size and mass to demonstrate Einstein’s General Theory of Relativity, which is gravity. Students will understand how space bends to makes things fall down towards massive objects. We can offer this program virtually by droping the supplies off […]

Stargazing Programs

1st and 5th Grade Program Description: Stargazing Programs and Virtual Stargazing Programs are extra curriculum programs that take place at night and during the day wih our contact in Sourth Africa that can connect students to the rest of the Universe through seeing stars, planets, galaxies, and other objects through telescopes. Students can use their […]

Stay Cool, and Fly On – 2nd Grade

2nd Grade: “Stay Cool, and Fly On” – Birds are expertly adapted for survival.  They are some of nature’s lightest, and most insulated, creatures.  From Antarctic penguins to rainforest parrots, birds have found ways to survive comfortably in almost any habitat known on Earth.  Join the TRC Education team for some hands-on games and experiments […]

Summer of Discovery

Provides science programming for summer school students including field trips and science lessons in the classroom for 20-40 students for 4 weeks each summer. Content can be customized to meet student and teacher goals. 2nd Grade Cross Disciplinary Concepts: Events have causes that generate observable patterns. The shape and stability of structures of natural and […]

Sunset and Sunrise Time Graphing

5th Grade Program Description: This lesson uses data in sunrise and sunset times that students can collect inside our planetarium or find online. Students graph that data to discover the patterns of daylight hours throughout the year. We can offer this program virtually by droping the supplies off with you and instructing the lesson over Zoom. […]

Surviving & Thriving Field Trip

Explore human history and technologies by discovering how different communities survived in Grand Teton. During this field trip students will either visit Mormon Row or Menor’s Ferry. Cross-cutting Concept: Indigenous people and homesteaders relied on community to survive and thrive here. Indigenous peoples relied on human and non-human community to thrive in this landscape, and […]

Teton 2nd

A four hour engagement for Teton County 2nd graders based out of TSS’s Kelly Campus, this program can be customized to meet student and teacher goals. Historically programs have emphasized discovering and interpreting animal signs, the legacy of Olaus and Mardy Murie, among other things. Cross Disciplinary Concepts: Events have causes that generate observable patterns. The […]

Teton 5th

A 3 day/ 2 night residential program for Teton County 5th graders based on the Kelly Campus of TSS. This program is customized for students and teachers based on TCSD goals and priorities. Historically we’ve focused on natural communities, adaptations, and field research practices. Cross Disciplinary Concepts: Patterns can be used as evidence to support […]

The ‘Eyas’ Doesn’t Fall Far From the Tree – 3rd Grade

“The Eyas Doesn’t Fall Far From the Tree” – 3rd Grade: A baby hawk or falcon is called an “Eyas”.  The life cycle of birds is both fascinating and complex and raptors are no exception.  This program will explore how the life cycle of birds (3-LS1-1) varies among species (3-LS1-2), using raptors as our primary example.  […]

The Closer You Look

Students observe different tree species and determine how their forms help them to survive. Adapted from Project Learning Tree, pg. 263. Cross Disciplinary Concepts: Observable phenomena exist from very short to very long time periods. Cause and effect relationships are routinely identified and used to explain change. Vocabulary: arctic, characteristic, compete, desert, environment, habitat, human, inherited, mate, […]

The Weather is Better with Feathers – 3rd Grade

“The Weather is Better with Feathers” – 3rd Grade: – Weather and climate play a significant role in the life of a bird.  During this program we will analyze weather and climate data from a bird’s perspective (3-ESS2-1, 3-ESS3-1).  We will consider options for human intervention (i.e. – Nest Boxes) to help birds survive certain […]

Virtual Water

Students distinguish between direct and indirect uses of water and simulate the interconnectedness of water users in a community. Adapted from Project Wet, pg 289. Cross Disciplinary Concepts: A system can be described in terms of its components and their interactions. Vocabulary: Resource, ocean, land, industry, agriculture, renewable

Walk With a Ranger

The Walk With a Ranger program is a great opportunity for local students to get acquainted with their public lands around Jackson. During the hike we will go over animal adaptations, talk about how we interact with the land, play games, and learn the seven principles of Leave no Trace. Kindergarten Crosscutting Concepts: Systems in […]

Weather Journals

We use weather journals, student art activities, and demonstrations to help students understand seasonal weather patterns. We can drop off the supplies with you and instruct the program virtually over Zoom. Kindergarten Cross Disciplinary Concepts: Patterns in the natural and human designed world can be observed and used as evidence. Kindergarten Vocabulary: cloudy, cold, rainy, sunny, snowy, […]

Weather Wonders Snow Science Field Trip

Using scientific inquiry and tools to gather data, students learn about how abiotic factors (i.e. snow) influence biotic organisms (i.e. wildlife). Shovels and snowshoes provided! Students will also learn how animals have developed specific adaptations in order to survive the harsh winters of this ecosystem.  Cross-cutting Concept: A system can be described in terms of […]

Whales Feeding

Students play a game using simulated baleen and toothed whale feeding apparatuses to see which works better for catching fish.  Cross Disciplinary Concepts: Vocabulary:

What Bear Goes Where?

Students discuss the three North American bear species and their adaptations, and create posters with their representative habitats. Adapted from Project Wild, pg 118. Cross Disciplinary Concepts: Observable phenomena exist from very short to very long time periods. Cause and effect relationships are routinely identified and used to explain change. Vocabulary: arctic, characteristic, compete, desert, environment, […]

Wild Science Fest

Wild Science Fest is an annual nature and science festival, encompassing school activities, interactive science exhibits, films and science-oriented stage acts. The event spans two days, including a classes-only science festival day attended by up to 1,000 elementary and middle school students; a public science festival day with typically more than 30 interactive exhibits and […]

Winter Challenge Field Trip

Students use their own observations to understand animal behaviors and adaptations while snowshoeing in the footprints of GTNP wildlife. Students will compare and contrast wildlife and human “adaptations” to winter. Students will create their own imaginary winter animal and present it to the class. Snowshoes can be provided. Cross Disciplinary Concepts: The shape and stability […]

Wolf Town Hall Classroom Visit

Students explore contrasting perspectives about wolf and wildlife management through mock town hall meetings. Cross-cutting Concept: Wolves are controversial in the valley of Jackson Hole, and beyond. There are many different stakeholder interests; finding a middle ground is challenging. Vocabulary: Fact vs. Myth, Mediator/Facilitator, stakeholders, controversy