Natural History Teacher Resources

Behind the closed doors of natural history museums lies a hidden world of scientific research and discovery that goes unseen for visitors. Follow along as this short video explores different scientific mysteries that have been solved...

Students explore U.S. history by participating in a class field trip. For this museum lesson, students attend a field trip to the Natural History Museum and identify cultural stories and art pieces they enjoy. Students collaborate in...

Author Brian Selznick takes scholars on a virtual field trip to New York City's American Museum of Natural History. Three stops to the Hall of North American Mammals, Mosquito Model, and Hall of Meteorites showcase prominent dioramas and...

"What should we have for dinner?" "What am I eating?" "Where did it come from?" These three questions are at the heart of Michael Pollan's The Omnivore's Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals. Pollan's book provides some very...

A dynamic, three-part feature explores what caused mass extinction of the dinosaurs at the end of the Cretaceous period. Computer animations, interviews, and on-site footage from around the world divulge evidence that it was the K-T...

Reading and understanding informational text is a key element to understanding every discipline. Elementary learners read three different articles focused on various animals and habitats in the Hudson River. They answer comprehension...

The American Museum of Natural History offers a website sure to engage young anthropologists. Learners can dig into a site that offers an explanation of the field of archaeology, the kinds of questions archaeologists ask that launch...

Students research and produce an iMovie documentary about the human and natural history of a stream basin (watershed).

It's like a biological "Beauty and the Beast!" The fascinating mutualism between a South African meganosed fly and a deep-throated geranium builds a case study in coevolution for your biology buffs to analyze. After reading about this...

The second lesson in the series begins with a starter activity discussing wild versus domesticated animals. Then, scholars play a card game, with optional variations, to emphasize artificial selection. Next, they attend a field trip to a...

Three episodes explore pondlife with microbiologist Sally Warring from the American Museum of Natural History. Videos give scholars an up-close look into the microbes that live among pond scum, algae, and moss while the host offers...

Help middle schoolers conduct Internet research and develop a working definition for the discipline of social studies. From a list of websites, they develop classification skills and differentiate between primary and secondary sources....

Match up the DNA code. Pupils read the website from the American Museum of Natural History about how DNA can determine whether a skin is from a particular type of reptile. Using the same technique, learners match up products with the...

If a Zapotec urn, buried for over a thousand years in a temple in the lost city of Xoxocotlan in the Valley of Oaxaca in the mountains of southern Mexico could talk image the stories it could tell. That's the set up in a clever resource...

Sixth graders investigate the understanding of where coffee is grown by conducting a survey. They study the natural history of coffee and examine bird habitats in the areas where coffee is grown. They write letters to explaining the...

Take a peek into thousands of frozen samples. Learners try to identify an image of a piece of frozen tissue. After choosing the correct answer, scholars find out more information about the American Museum of Natural History's Frozen...

Trowels and brushes are certainly important tools for an archaeologist working on a dig. Perhaps more important, however, is the archaeologist's field journal. Christina Elson, an archaeologist working with the American Museum of Natural...

After reading a series of informational articles regarding the Hudson River Estuary, the class will answer a series of comprehension questions. An answer key is provided but the articles and worksheets are not.

When did biology become a proper science? Travel back in time to the evolution of natural history during part 19 in an ongoing History of Science series. Pupils discover early pioneers in the study of plants and animals, the birth of...

Poetry is a wonderful way to explore language, express topical understanding, and incite creative thinking. After a trip to the local natural history museum (or zoo), learners write an acrostic or a cinquain poem describing one of their...

Hear a lecture by Carter Emmart, director of Astrovisualization for production and education at the Rose Center for Earth and Space at the American Museum of Natural History. He introduces an astounding software that serves as a...

Start seeing double. The American Museum of Natural History website provides pupils with information about Dolly, the cloned sheep. Learners find out the procedure used to create Dolly along with why scientists clone animals.

What's the most interesting fact about a blue whale? Learners read an interview about the similarities between the Titanosaur and the blue whale displays at the American Museum of Natural History. Pupils learn not only about blue whales...

Fly around the Martian surface. Pupils view a presentation on the planet Mars featuring a flyover that shows different views of the surface where rovers have landed and explored on different missions. As individuals watch the images, the...