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.

RMSC_Festival-47-1
DSC_1674-1
IMG_5214

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
  • NEW! Self-guided bins are available if you’d like to explore the Museum & Science Center with your own spin or independently!

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!

    • Museum & Science Center, Virtual
    • Guided Exhibit Workshops, Virtual Experiences

  • Be an H2O Hero: How You Can Protect Your Watershed

    Grades K-12 | We all live in a watershed… but, what’s a watershed?

    • Museum & Science Center, Virtual
    • RMSC Delivers: Experiences at Your Site, Virtual Experiences

  • Dinosaurs

    Grades PreK-2 | Take your experience to the next level with this hands-on program!

    • Museum & Science Center
    • Inquiry Room Investigation

  • 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.”

    • Museum & Science Center
    • Engineering Design Lab

  • 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.

    • Museum & Science Center, Virtual
    • Guided Exhibit Workshops, Virtual Experiences

  • Frog Adaptations

    Grades 3-4 | Discover the ingenious adaptations of live frogs and why they’re important.

    • Museum & Science Center, Virtual
    • Inquiry Room Investigation, Virtual Experiences

  • 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.

    • Museum & Science Center
    • Inquiry Room Investigation

  • 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.

    • Museum & Science Center
    • Inquiry Room Investigation, Virtual Experiences

  • Insects – Virtual

    Grades K-3 | Explore the incredible world of insects and the important roles they play in our ecosystem.

    • Museum & Science Center, Virtual
    • Virtual Experiences

  • 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!

    • Museum & Science Center, Virtual
    • Inquiry Room Investigation, Virtual Experiences

  • 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.

    • Museum & Science Center, Virtual
    • Engineering Design Lab, Virtual Experiences

  • 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!

    • Museum & Science Center
    • Demonstration (Live Science)

  • 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.

    • Museum & Science Center, Virtual
    • RMSC Delivers: Experiences at Your Site, Virtual Experiences, Demonstration (Live Science)

  • 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.

    • Museum & Science Center
    • Guided Exhibit Workshops

  • Our Changing Earth

    Grades 6-12 | Take a closer look at how scientists determine the health of our planet.

    • Museum & Science Center
    • Science on a Sphere

  • 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.

    • Museum & Science Center
    • Science on a Sphere

  • Plates in Motion

    Grades 4-8 | Examine earthquakes, volcanoes and seafloor structures to evaluate the theory of past plate motions.

    • Museum & Science Center
    • Science on a Sphere

  • Predicting Weather

    Grades 3-8 | Discover the complex interactions and movement of air masses on our 5 ft. interactive globe.

    • Museum & Science Center
    • Science on a Sphere

  • 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.

    • Museum & Science Center
    • RMSC Delivers: Experiences at Your Site

  • 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.

    • Museum & Science Center
    • RMSC Delivers: Experiences at Your Site

  • 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.

    • Museum & Science Center, Virtual
    • RMSC Delivers: Experiences at Your Site, Virtual Experiences

  • 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.

    • Museum & Science Center
    • RMSC Delivers: Experiences at Your Site

  • 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.

    • Museum & Science Center, Virtual
    • RMSC Delivers: Experiences at Your Site

  • RMSC DELIVERS: Rocks and Minerals

    Grades 3-7 | This outreach gives the student a hands-on understanding of geology.

    • Museum & Science Center
    • RMSC Delivers: Experiences at Your Site

  • 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.

    • Museum & Science Center, Virtual
    • Virtual Experiences

  • 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.

    • Museum & Science Center
    • Inquiry Room Investigation

  • 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!

    • Museum & Science Center
    • Inquiry Room Investigation

  • 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.

    • Museum & Science Center
    • Inquiry Room Investigation

  • Stories in Stone

    Grades 2-9 | Get hands on with rocks, minerals and fossil and discover the Earth Systems that shaped our local geology.

    • Museum & Science Center
    • Guided Exhibit Workshops

  • Stormy Science

    Grades K-3 | Button up your raincoats and get ready to chase some storms!

    • Museum & Science Center, Virtual
    • Inquiry Room Investigation, Virtual Experiences

  • Survival of the Slowest

    Grades PreK-8 | Enjoy a special guided experience in our visiting exhibition, Survival of the Slowest!

    • Museum & Science Center
    • Guided Exhibit Workshops

  • 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.

    • Museum & Science Center
    • Immersive Day Programs

  • The Haudenosaunee

    Grades 4-8 | Discover the rich culture- past and present – of the Haudenosaunee people, more commonly known as the Iroquois Confederacy.

    • Museum & Science Center, Virtual
    • Guided Exhibit Workshops, Virtual Experiences

  • 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.

    • Museum & Science Center
    • Science on a Sphere

  • 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.

    • Museum & Science Center
    • Inquiry Room Investigation