Discovery Stations

Request a FREE Discovery Station for your self-guided visit to selected exhibits.

Your students will rotate through 15-minute staff-led activities designed to provide students with a hands-on, interactive learning experience related to the exhibit, while still allowing them time for open exploration.

Reservations required. Ask for when booking a self-guided visit to the exhibits below:

Seneca Discovery
when visiting Native Peoples of the Americas
Social Studies ♦ ELA ♦ The Arts
PreK—2
Surrounded by Haudenosaunee ("Iroquois") artifacts, listen to the Seneca oral tradition, "The Rabbit's Dance,"  and do the rabbit dance with rhythm instruments.
NY State Standards & Common Core:
Career Development and Occupational Studies: CDOS 2
Common Core in ELA: Reading (R,CRR,7,11); Speaking and Listening (SL,CCR,1,2,3,4,6); Language (L,CCR,1,4)
Social Studies: SS 1
The Arts: A 1,4
Suggested Connections: Animals and Plants Around Us; Inquiry Room: Inquiry Room Exploration (PreK), Insect Investigations; Planetarium: Our Changing Seasons; Native American Skies.

Haida Discovery
when visiting Native Peoples of the Americas
Social Studies ♦ ELA ♦ The Arts
Grades 3—5, 6—8
Surrounded by Haida (Northwest Native American) artifacts, listen to the oral tradition, "Raven Steals the Light," and get hands-on with Haida culture.

NY State Standards & Common Core:
Career Development and Occupational Studies: CDOS 2
Common Core in ELA: Reading (R,CRR,7,11); Speaking and Listening (SL,CCR,1,2,3,4,6); Language (L,CCR,1,4)
Social Studies: SS 1
The Arts: A 1,4
Suggested Connections: Planetarium: Grades 3-5: Cycles in the Sku; Grades 6-8: Celestial Sphere; Native American Skies.

Bone, Fur, Tooth & Tool Discovery
when visiting Expedition Earth
Science ♦ Social Studies ♦ Engineering ♦ Technology
PreK—2, 3—5, 6—8
Get hands-on with bones, furs, teeth, and tools. Discover how anthropologists learn about paleo-man from their technology.

NY State Standards & Common Core:
Career Development and Occupational Studies: CDOS 2
Common Core in ELA: Reading (R,CRR,7); Reading for Informational Text (IR, PreK-8,7); Speaking and Listening (SL,CCR,1,2,3,4,6); Language (L,CCR,1,4)
Next Generation Science Standards: 1, Scientific and Engineering Practices 1,6,7,8; Crosscutting Concepts: 2,6; Core Ideas: Life Science LS1, engineering, Technology and Applications of Science ET1,2;
Social Studies: SS 1
Suggested Connections: How Things Work; Native American Environments and Cultures; The Haudenosaunee; Inquiry Room: Inquiry Room Exploration (PreK), Insect Investigations; Planetarium: Amazing Journeys.

Mastodon Discovery
when visiting Exhibition Earth
Science ♦ ELA
PreK—2, 3—5
PreK—2:  Feel fur and a cast of a mastodon tooth. Act out how mastodons and mammoths move. Listen to and see a short picture-book story about mammoths.
3—5: Feel fur and a cast of a mastodon tooth. Learn about Mastodons and write a Diamante Poem together about mastodons.

NY State Standards & Common Core:
Career Development and Occupational Studies: CDOS 2
Common Core in ELA: Reading (R,CRR,7); Reading for Informational Text: (IR, PreK-8, 7); Speaking and Listening (SL,CCR,1,2,3,4,6); Language (L,CCR,1,4); Writing (W, CCR, 3)
Next Geneartion Science Standards: 1; Scientific and Engineering Practices 1,6,7,8; Crosscutting Concepts 2,3,6; Core Ideas: Life Science LS1
Suggested Connections: Native American Environments & Cultures;  Inquiry Room: Inquiry Room Exploration (PreK), Insect Investigations.

Dinosaur Discovery
when visiting Expedition Earth
Science ♦ ELA
PreK—2, 3—5
PreK—2: Do a short activity to learn about Maiasaurs, Triceratops, and Albertosaurs and then create a story together using a magnet board.
3—5:  Brainstorm what dinosaurs need to survive as a basis for creating the conflict for a short realistic fiction story together in a Cretaceous magnet-board setting complete with asteroids and volcanoes.

NY State Standards & Common Core:
Career Development and Occupational Studies: CDOS 2
Common Core in ELA: Reading (R,CRR,7); Reading for Informational Text (IR, PreK-8,7); Speaking and Listening (SL,CCR,1,2,3,4,6); Language (L,CCR,1,4); Writing (W, CCR 3)
Next Generation Science Standards: 1, Scientific and Engineering Practices 1,6,7,8; Crosscutting Concepts: 2,4; Core Ideas: Life Science LS1
Social Studies: SS 1
Suggested Connections:  Inquiry Room:Insect Investigations.

Predator—Prey Discovery
when visiting Expedition Earth
Science ♦ Math
Grades 2, 3—5
Be the predator in deep sea and coral reef (cloth) environments catching prey fish made of camouflaged- or contrasting- colored cloth. "Graph" the kinds of fish surviving and discover adaptation.

NY State Standards & Common Core:
Career Development and Occupational Studies: CDOS 2
Common Core in ELA: Speaking and Listening (SL,CCR,1,2,3,4,6); Language (L,CCR,1,4); Writing (W, CCR, 3)
Common Core in Mathematics: Standards for Mathematical Practice: 1,2,3,4,5; Meaurement and Data (3-5MD)
Next Geneartion Science Standards: 1; Scientific and Engineering Practices 1,2,3,4,6;  Core Ideas: Life Science LS1,2,4
Suggested Connections:  Inquiry Room:  Insect Investigations: Planetarium: Amazing Journeys.

Magnetism & Electricity Discovery
when visiting How Things Work or ENERGIZE it
Science ♦ Engineering ♦ Technology
3—5, 6—8
Through interactive demonstrations, explore magnetism and its relationship with electricity. Discover principles behind the machines we use every day and energy.

NY State Standards & Common Core:
Career Development and Occupational Studies: CDOS 2
Common Core in ELA: Speaking and Listening (SL,CCR,1,2,3,4,6); Language (L,CCR,1,4)
Next Geneartion Science Standards: 1; Scientific and Engineering Practices 1,2,4,5,6,7,8;  Crosscutting Concepts: 1,2,4; Core Ideas: Physical Sciences PS1,2,3; Engineering, Technology and Applications of Science eTS 1,2.
Suggested Connections:  The BUBL™ Project; Live Science Demonstration: Electricity; Inquiry Room:  Magnet Exploration.