Museum & Science Center
Field Trips
Embark on a journey of discovery with your students at the RMSC Museum & Science Center. Find the program to match your curriculum needs using the search tool below or call us at 585.697.1942 and we’ll help you identify the best program for your class.
GIVE THE GIFT OF LEARNING!
Not all school districts have the resources to bring their students for an immersive experience like a field trip at the RMSC.
Through the generous investments of members and supporters like you, we are able to offer financial assistance to schools with financial needs. Please consider a gift to send a curious mind on a field trip they will never forget!
Educator Programs
Explore school programs using our Program Search below. This tool is designed to help you find the RMSC experience that best fits your needs. As always, we’re here to help. Give us a call at 585.697.1942 and we will answer any questions you have.
Please note: as of September 1, 2022 the RMSC will no longer offer Monday school programs while the Museum & Science Center is closed. Thank you for your patience and understanding!
WE OFFER THREE TYPES OF SCHOOL EXPERIENCES TO BEST FIT YOUR NEEDS:
- In-Person Field Trips: Guided or self-guided experiences
- RMSC Delivers: Live science experiences at your site
- Virtual Field Trips: Highly interactive sessions via Zoom
bring your curriculum to life & Plan Your Visit!
Once you have perused our offerings and are ready to request a program, fill out the form below. You can expect to hear back from our Guest Services team within 3-5 business days.
Admission and Transportation scholarships
Thanks to generous contributions from the community, the RMSC has limited scholarship opportunities available to fund educational experiences! Follow the button below to explore options for funding.
Animal Adaptations
Grades PreK-4 | Beavers, bears and birds, oh my! Structure follows function as students explore the adaptations that abound in the animal kingdom!
Be an H2O Hero: How You Can Protect Your Watershed
Grades K-12 | We all live in a watershed… but, what’s a watershed?
Day and Night On Our Planet – Virtual
Grades K-2 | Discover how the Earth and our view of outer space changes throughout the day and night.
Dinosaurs
Grades PreK-2 | Take your experience to the next level with this hands-on program!
Erie Canal Simple Machine Challenge
Grades 4-8 | Simple Machines to the rescue! It’s time to clear the path to make way for the Erie Canal, but we need your team to build a “stump puller.”
Flight to Freedom: Rochester’s Underground Railroad
Grade 3-8 | Follow the North Star on a journey from slavery, to the doors of abolitionists, and on to freedom during this Underground Railroad Immersion Experience in our Flight to Freedom exhibition.
Frog Adaptations
Grades 3-4 | Discover the ingenious adaptations of live frogs and why they’re important.
Haudenosaunee School Days
Grades 4-8 | Immerse your students in the vibrant art and culture of today’s Haudenosaunee (Iroquois). Celebrate Haudenosaunee culture—past and present.
How To Predict Eclipses – Virtual
Grades 9-12 | We review the sun and moon motions needed to produce a solar eclipse. Then we discover how to predict when those conditions will recur.
Inquiry Room Exploration
PreK | Explore science in a less structured setting as you learn and play in the unique Carlson Inquiry Room. Meet our live animals and investigate magnetism. Learn about states of matter as you experiment with vinegar and baking soda and make your own slime to take home.
Insect Investigations
Grades K-3 | Explore the wonder of butterfly metamorphosis. Learn how insects communicate and meet the live critters that make their home in the RMSC Carlson Inquiry Room.
Insects – Virtual
Grades K-3 | Explore the incredible world of insects and the important roles they play in our ecosystem.
Journey of Sound
Grades PreK-4 | Explore how sound travels by experimenting with tuning forks, a spouting bowl, and instruments. Investigate of sound vibrations by creating a croaking frog!
Light Up the Martian City: Alternative Energy Challenge
Grades 2-8 | Become part of an elite team of astronauts as you construct an energy grid for the first human settlement on Mars.
Live Science: Electricity Theater
Grades 1-12 | Two six foot tall Tesla Coils throwing 8 foot arcs of plasma (lightning) and the arcs actually play music. Our Faraday Cage can make the day of many in attendance electrifying!
Live Science: Solids, Liquids & Gases
Grades 2-12 | Our coolest demonstrations, literally! This program explores temperature’s effect on solids, liquids and gasses using liquid nitrogen.
Magnet Exploration
Grades PreK-3 | Learn about magnetic fields and experiment with materials that are magnetic. Explore attraction and repulsion. Make magnets float.
Native American Environments & Culture
PreK-3 | Take a closer look at the Algonquin, Apache, Haida, Pueblo, Inuit, Haudenosaunee and Plains cultures. Compare and contrast the past material culture of these various groups of Native Americans living across North America.
Our Changing Earth
Grades 6-12 | Take a closer look at how scientists determine the health of our planet.
Plastic Lakes: A little Litter Goes a Long Way
Grades 6-8 | Plastic pollution has been widely studied in the ocean, however scientists have only recently started to study this problem in the Great Lakes.
Plates in Motion
Grades 4-8 | Examine earthquakes, volcanoes and seafloor structures to evaluate the theory of past plate motions.
Predicting Weather
Grades 3-8 | Discover the complex interactions and movement of air masses on our 5 ft. interactive globe.
RMSC DELIVERS: Bats
PreK-2 | This fun and interactive program will help your students to understand bats, and the important part they play in our ecosystem.
RMSC DELIVERS: Dinosaurs
PreK-2 | This very interactive program expands the students’ imagination as they learn about and “create” a fossil. Students become “paleontologists” in a mock “dig”, and then role play as dinosaurs to explore how they move, eat, and defend themselves.
RMSC DELIVERS: Energy
Grades 1-12 | The question is: “What is energy?” Demonstrators guide students in exploring these different forms of energy, how they connect, and how they are used.
RMSC DELIVERS: Insects
Grades K-2 | This fun, interactive program will get your class buzzing about insects. Students will take on the role of dragonflies, bees, crickets, and other insects, as they learn about insect anatomy, eating habits, and how they communicate.
RMSC DELIVERS: Light and Color
PreK-12 | Explore how and why we see colors in this fun, interactive show. Experiment with color mixing and learn about the different kinds of primary colors.
RMSC DELIVERS: Rocks and Minerals
Grades 3-7 | This outreach gives the student a hands-on understanding of geology.
Rochester Changemakers
Grades 4-12 | Discover the stories of regional women from the past and present who changed the world. Walk in the steps of diverse leaders who have organized, advocated, invented, and enterprised to bring about change in American society.
Rocks, Fossils and More
Grades 1-5 | Explore fossils from the RMSC teaching collection. Sort rocks into three groups and learn about the minerals that make up rocks.
Roving Robots
Grades 1-5 | Discover how robots are programmed to perform tasks. Program a robot to complete a mission in space. Build a robot to communicate to extraterrestrial life!
Simple Machines & Fantastic Forces
Grades K-4 | Explore simple machines while experimenting with pulley systems and ramps. Learn about friction, gravity and inertia while investigating the forces of motion.
Solar System Science – Virtual
Grades 3-8 | Surrounded by the best images from recent space missions such as the New Horizons Pluto flyby projected at giant scale, students encounter the majesty, mystery and wonder of our solar system.
Stories in Stone
Grades 2-9 | Get hands on with rocks, minerals and fossil and discover the Earth Systems that shaped our local geology.
Stormy Science
Grades K-3 | Button up your raincoats and get ready to chase some storms!
Take it Down! Organizing Against Racism
Grades 3-12 | Explore the story of a local, racist carousel panel and join in the meaningful dialogue it encourages regarding individual, institutional, and structural racism.
The Haudenosaunee
Grades 4-8 | Discover the rich culture- past and present – of the Haudenosaunee people, more commonly known as the Iroquois Confederacy.
Ticks! – Virtual
Grades 3-7 | Ticks are amazingly adapted! Take a microscopic look at local tick species to learn more about them.
Tour of the Solar System
Grades PreK-2 | Explore beautiful cutting-edge images of our solar system as you travel through space and learn the properties of each planet.
What Tells Us That There Was a Big Bang? – Virtual
Grades 9-12 | Review the three pillars of evidence that our universe is emerging from a Big Bang.
What’s the Matter? (Solids, Liquids, and Gases)
Grades PreK-2 | Explore the states of matter by comparing and contrasting solids, liquids and gases. Do hands-on experiments about liquid density and chemical reaction. Learn about polymers and make slime to take home.
