The Museum of Nature & Science approach to educating visitors is based on five foundational beliefs:

Our approach to educating visitors is based on five foundational beliefs:

• We are surrounded by science and ideas that are based on scientific understanding; revealing and generating a passion for the infrastructure is our primary role
• Science is not simply a collection of facts, theories and hypotheses, but a process and a means to discovery; without action, science is incomplete
• While content is an important part of the learning experience, we also allow visitors to develop their scientific skills and work towards improving their understanding of science
• Visitors should participate in learning science through active, fun, hands-on experiences
• After attending a Museum program, visitors should have a better understanding of how to make science a consistent presence in their lives
  

Education Department focus:

School Programs Division: Provides informal learning opportunities to more than 250,000 children each year through exhibitions and structured classroom programs targeted at pre-K through 12th grade students across the science disciplines with hands-on exploration of concepts and processes.

Public Programs Division: Involve early childhood, youth, family and adult programs. Early Childhood programs currently include Little Explorers (ages 6 months - 4 years), Hand-in-Hand (ages 6 months – 2 years) and Discovery Camp, Jr. (ages 3 – 4 years). Other programs include sleepovers, birthday parties, scouting adventures, Discovery Camp, Discovery Days family festivals and lectures.

Research and Collections:

Featured in the 2008-2009 PBS NOVA season premiere, “Arctic Dinosaurs,” Dr. Anthony R. Fiorillo is curator of paleontology at the Museum of Nature & Science. He has led many expeditions in western North America and conducted fieldwork in Asia, Australia and South America. His research specialty is dinosaur ecology, on which he has published more than 100 scientific and popular papers. He served as chair and co-chair of the Education Committee of the Society for Vertebrate Paleontology.

The museum’s current research involves prospecting for dinosaur remains throughout Alaska, including north of the Arctic Circle on the Colville River and in Denali National Park, in a joint program with the National Park Service, University of Alaska, University of Kansas, and Hokkaido University in Japan. These studies of Alaskan dinosaurs could provide insights into Texas dinosaurs, where previous museum expeditions excavated Alamosaurus fossils in Big Bend National Park. Some Alaskan dinosaurs are different than those in West Texas, while others are the same. By studying the rocks containing bones in both places this work will bring new insights into the how and shy of dinosaurs scattered across the continent millions of years ago.

See us at work in this PBS NOVA series "Artic Dinosaurs"

Watch Arctic Dinosaurs on PBS. See more from NOVA.