North Carolina State Museum of Natural Sciences
Resources for learning about natural North Carolina including animals, snakes, insects and ecosystems.
Preview your trip on the web: North Carolina State Museum of Natural Sciences
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- North Carolina Geological Survey Explore the geological maps of North Carolina, learn about the minerals that can be found there, and check out the questions that students are asking geologists.
- Lesson plan: Introduction to natural selection This hands-on activity demonstrates how populations change little by little, generation by generation, due to survival of species that have traits that are beneficial in an environment.
- Lesson plan: Animal adaptations Students participate in classroom discussions about animals.
- Lesson plan: Marine sanctuaries Students learn about the national marine sanctuaries found in the Pacific and Atlantic oceans and off the coast of American Samoa.
Related pages
- Jockey's Ridge State Park: Experience a world of the shifting sands and a barren, desert environment as well as an estuarine environment of the tidal waters of the Roanoke Sound at Jockey's Ridge State Park in Nags Head, North Carolina.
- New River State Park: Visit New River State Park and discover its unspoiled beauty as well as the flora and fauna of the area.
- Catawba Science Center: Students will enjoy visiting the Catawba Science Center, a hands-on museum, where learning is fun!
Related topics
- Learn more about Arthropods, North Carolina, Piedmont, Wake County, animals, biodiversity, biology, dinosaurs, environmental science, farming, geography, geology, habitats, mountains, natural history, oceanography, plants, prehistory, science, science museums, and skeletons.
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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.
Educators and students travel from all over North Carolina to Raleigh to visit the museum. Now, details for planning field trips to the museum are available on the Web site. The Educators 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.
For classes that cannot come to the Museum, virtual programs are available. Programs are offered Tuesday through Friday, 9:30-10:20, 12:30-1:30 and anytime after 2 pm. Each program is about 50 minutes long and the Museum will ship hands-on learning materials to your school. Programs connect throught the North Carolina Information Highway or IP to IP. Programs are free to North Carolina schools and $65 per program for out-of-state schools. The school is responsible for shipping materials back to the Museum after all programs are completed. For more information see the programs website.
While at the Museum’s website, check out the Nature Notebook. Here students will find information on the flora, fauna, and other natural phenomena of the southeastern United States.
The N.C. 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 museum has exhibits on birds, mammals, reptiles, amphibians, and wetlands, as well as a Monarch Butterfly Tagging Program. The Museum of Natural Sciences is an agency of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, and as a state resource is open free to the public.
Professional development offerings
“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 - from the teacher who is not comfortable outside (who might participate in a program on bluebirds) to someone who prefers to be outside (and might participate in a overnight canoe trip along the Roanoke River). 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.
- Follow-up activities include a required evaluation of the professional development session with electronic follow-up.
- Materials are included in the cost of the workshops.
