Sustaining Franklin Fairbanks's vision, the Fairbanks Museum continues to offer high quality educational programs that put science and rural history in the hands of school children. Staff presentations, demonstrations, laboratory lessons, field studies, and tours have enriched the science, natural history, and rural history education of young people for over 100 years. A hallmark of these programs is the opportunity for students to study, explore, and discover alongside the Museum's curators and other professional staff. School services at the Fairbanks Museum complement classroom resources and take full advantage of the Museum's extraordinary collections, exhibits, facilities, and professional staff to offer exceptional "out of the classroom" experiences. Working closely with school teachers and administrators, our museum educators:
- Offer unexcelled content for a variety of learning styles
- Build, strengthen, and complement classroom curricula
- Align their programs with Vermont's Framework of Standards and Learning Opportunities
- Promote inquiry-based learning
- Foster science and history literacy
- Excite students and teachers toward an understanding and appreciation of the natural world.
Fairbanks Museum and Planetarium school programs are available at the Museum or at school sites in Vermont and northern New Hampshire. Please view our current schedule (pdf format). We invite you to take advantage of these popular programs and resources the Museum offers to educators:
Class Trips — To schedule a class trip or for more information contact Tara Robinson Holt, Program Specialist, at (802) 748-2372. School programs are available from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. A minimum of two to three weeks advance notice is requested. Please be give us two or three choices of dates and programs, and we will do our best to accommodate you. View school group fees.
Pre-visit Resources — Pre-visit information kits are available to teachers upon request.
NORTHERN FOREST CURRICULUM - The staff of the Fairbanks Museum and Planetarium has prepared a comprehensive natural science curriculum, The Great Northern Forest: From Science to Stewardship. Through the generous support of the Turrell Fund, we are very pleased to make these materials available to schools across the Northern Forest eco-region in New York, Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine and to all others who are interested in understanding this great forest. View detailed information about the Northern Forest Curriculum and download natural science modules for your classes.
RADON AWARENESS - the Fairbanks Museum offers a model science education program to educate students, teachers, and their communities about the nature of radon and radioactivity, radon's occurrence in the environment, and its potential health risks. This program is an opportunity for 4th-8th graders to be exposed to an on-going statewide research project with interdisciplinary potential. Learn more. The Radon Awareness program is sponsored by the Vermont Department of Health Radon Program and the Environmental Protection Agency.
PATHWAYS TO HISTORY - Two new curriculum guides have been developed by Museum educator Bobby Farlice-Rubio based on the exhibit, PATHWAYS: Evolution in American Indian Material Culture. Click here for Abenaki Material Culture or American Indian Star Stories or The First Vermonters (pdf format). These guides were developed with support from the Vermont Humanities Council as a teaching tool for educators in Vermont and throughout the Northern Forest region.
