LEARN NC

K–12 teaching and learning · from the UNC School of Education

North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences

http://www.naturalsciences.org/

Learn more

Legal

This catalog record is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.5 License. This license applies to the content of this page only and does not apply to the referenced website.

The North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences website features a glimpse inside the museum and some of the happenings behind the scenes. Natural science information and educational activities are continually updated, with new features to explore.Details for planning field trips to the museum are available on the Web site. The Education section of the Web site contains information on a wide variety of programs available from the museum for use in schools as well as professional development opportunities for teachers.The North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences opened its new museum in 2000 and is located in downtown Raleigh. The museum documents and interprets the natural history of the state of North Carolina through exhibits, research, collections, publications, and educational programming. The exhibits of the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences look at the natural world through the distinct lens of North Carolina’s diverse geography, geology, plants and animals. By exploring our own backyards and taking a closer look at the familiar, we can better understand the world and our place in it as we learn about North Carolina’s global connections. In this way, the Museum becomes a window on the world.The Museum of Natural Sciences is an agency of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, and is open free to the public. Every day the Museum presents a variety of free programs for the public, often featuring live animals. People of all ages are welcome.Highlights include:

  • Blockbuster exhibits in the Special Exhibits Gallery.
  • Willo, the world’s only dinosaur with a fossilized heart.
  • A real Acrocanthosaurus skeleton is on display in Terror of the South.
  • Mountains to the Sea, an exhibit re-creating five North Carolina habitats, complete with live animals and a 20-foot high waterfall.
  • One of the world’s finest displays of great whale skeletons in Coastal Carolina.
  • Special Areas for Guided Learning where Museum staff and volunteers can help you make the most of your visit.

Professional development offerings

Get into the field and explore the remarkable natural history around you. Discover ways to integrate these experiences into all areas of your curriculum — language arts, math, history, and science. Gain confidence in using experiential learning as you try hands-on activities and techniques that really work in your classroom and on your school grounds.Our Mission is to enhance the public’s understanding and appreciation of the environment in ways that emphasize the diversity of North Carolina and the southeastern region and relate the region to the world as a whole. Our professional development opportunities try to reach teachers with a wide variety of comfort levels - we can bring workshops to your school grounds or you can join us on an adventure in the field. We provide activities and resource materials that will support the use of the experience in the classroom.

  • Workshops typically serve fewer than 20 educators per session.
  • Offerings are based on classroom strategies and subject matter content.
  • Sessions offered almost exclusively in the field or in a hands-on experience. We take teachers into natural areas and give them the skills to use the outdoors as a teaching tool.
  • Materials are included in the cost of the workshops.
View Larger Map