Museum of Life and Science

Packed with highly interactive exhibits, the Museum of Life and Science showcases aerospace, weather, geology, Carolina wildlife, farmyard, train rides, traveling exhibits, gift shops, café and more culminating with the tropical Magic Wings Butterfly House and Bayer Crop Science Insectarium.

http://www.ncmls.org/

Learn more

• Lesson plan: Butterfly 1: Observing the life cycle of a butterfly Students observe one organism over time and compare its early development to its later development.
• The Butterfly Lab Includes information about breeding, feeding, and maintaining caterpillars and butterflies as well as a field guide, audio clips, and butterfly activities that can be used in the classroom.
• NASA Human Spaceflight A very informative site on spaceflight from the Mercury missions to Space Stations. From NASA.
• Franklin's Forecast Become the neighborhood meterologist! This site will teach you how to set up your own weather station and how to predict all kinds of weather events. You can even learn how to read radar and find out about weather satellites.
• Lesson plan: Checking the weather The students will check the weather on a website, draw what they see on the calendar (sunny, cloudy, rainy, snowy), and look outside to see if they think the weather on the website is correct.
• Lesson plan: Weather watchers This is a week long activity during which the students record the weather, track weather changes, and make predictions about future weather patterns.

Related pages

• Chestnut Ridge Camp and Retreat Center: Offers a selection of informative, interactive and experientially-based programs in outdoor and environmental education.
• KidSenses Children's InterACTIVE Museum: The interactive exhibits at this children’s museum spark the imagination and kids have fun as they play and learn.
• Port Discover: Students will enjoy visiting this new hands-on science and health center which is geared to the pre-k to fifth grade curriculum.

Related topics

• Learn more about Durham County, North Carolina, aerospace, arts, biology, butterflies, geology, insects, life science, meteorology, physical science, physics, science, science museums, space exploration, weather, and wildlife.

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The Museum of Life and Science explores the natural and physical sciences through fun, highly interactive exhibits. It is ranked #8 statewide for field trip fun.

Aerospace, weather, geology, Carolina wildlife, farmyard, train rides, traveling exhibits, gifts shops, discovery rooms and café culminate with Magic Wings Butterfly House, a tropical year-round butterfly conservatory. Bayer Crop Science Insectarium houses exotic live insects. Science classes for age 4 – grade 8 are also available on-site. Group rates are available for schools and youth groups.

The North Carolina Museum of Life and Science has developed a new model for outdoor science education. It combines the qualities of a zoo experience with the inquiry-based learning found in science centers. It has created a new exhibit which the National Science Foundation has called a “national model”. Explore the Wild is a six acre woodland and wetland habitat featuring live animals with interactive state-of-the-art technology. Black bears, red wolves, lemurs, and other wildlife live in this habitat of lush plant life, streams, and waterfalls. “Observation areas and state-of-the-art outdoor technology – including zoom cameras, microscopes, and computer kiosks – will enable students investigate the rich and varied animal and plant life found in this dynamic landscape.” Two more exhibits are planned for the museum – Catch the Wind, which will open in the fall of 2006 and Dinosaur Trail, opening in 2007.

Advance reservations are required. To plan at trip to the museum, call (919) 220-5429 x313 or send email to contactus@ncmls. For fees, directions and hours go to http://www.ncmls.org/about-us

Science-in-a-Suitcase loans science activities and consumable materials for hands-on classroom investigation. Two hundred ready-to-use science kits are available for educators to rent for a small fee. Kits are correlated with the North Carolina Standard Course of Study in Science, Math and Healthful Living and are available for four-week loan periods. Each kit supports science exploration for up to 30 students addressing 53 topics. Subjects include Fossils, Solar Power, Weather Watchers, Electricity, Eco Explorers, and Sights and Sounds. For more information call (919)220-5429 x356.

Professional development offerings

The Museum’s primary outcome is for teachers to come away with resources and tools they can implement fairly quickly to enhance their science and math curriculum.

• Workshops typically serve between 21 and 40 educators per session.
• Content may be aligned with North Carolina standards for professional development and is tailored to the needs of the requesting school system. Offerings are based on classroom strategies and subject matter content.
• Sessions offered are a combination of lecture and processing activities with time to process the learning with other participants.
• Follow-up activities include an optional evaluation of the professional development session.
• Materials are included in the cost of the workshops.

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