September 8, 2008
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Take a Field Trip to Chicago’s Field Museum in Person or Online
Ever wonder why an excursion outside a school building is called a “field trip”? At The Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago, it’s pretty obvious…because a field trip goes to The Field Museum!
The Field Museum provides extensive Exhibits, including Permanent, Temporary, Online and Traveling exhibits—and Research & Collections that touch on all branches of the natural sciences, including anthropology, botany, geology, and zoology. The Field’s Education Programs are also thorough and extensive and range from Field Trips, Outreach Programs, Professional Development, Online Learning, and the Harris Educational Loan Program (see Featured Interviews for more information about Education Programs).
At The Field kids can visit some of their favorite scientific specimens, including Sue, the largest, most complete, and best preserved Tyrannosaurus rex fossil in the world—as well as learn about scientific subjects such as evolution in a new permanent $17 million exhibit called Evolving Planet. If you’re able to take a field trip to The Field to see this scientifically based exhibit, you can download a .pdf of related programs here: http://www.fieldmuseum.org/education/guides/ep_flier.pdf—and plan your visit here: http://www.fieldmuseum.org/education/plan.htm. Kids love dinosaurs, and they won’t be disappointed with this exhibit, which features an expanded dinosaur hall that includes representatives of every major group. Fossils abound, many of which have never been displayed, and a spectacular animated screen surrounds visitors in 500-million-year-old sea creatures.
Classrooms of teachers and students, and families of all ages, are welcome to take part in field trips, workshops, and other educational events and activities. Thousands of Chicago-area school-aged children, their teachers, and parents visited The Field to view Pompeii: Stories from an Eruption. This exhibit about the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in AD 79 closed its physical doors on March 26, 2006, but anyone can “visit” the Web site. It includes educational materials, an interactive timeline, a photo gallery, and descriptions of the Vesuvius eruption and volcanism.
If ancient Egypt is more to your liking, beginning May 26, 2006, through January 1, 2007, the Tutankhamun and the Golden Age of the Pharaohs exhibit will welcome visitors of all ages. This expanded exhibit from the original which toured the world in 1977 features not only treasures of King Tut but also the story of his family and his time: the 18th dynasty, the pinnacle of Egyptian culture, wealth, and power. For more information about this King Tut exhibit, access a Calendar of Events. And, as always, the Egyptian mummies are favorites of kids.
Founded by Illinois State decree in 1893 as the Columbian Museum of Chicago to house the biological and anthropological collections of the Columbian Exposition of 1893, The Field Museum was renamed in 1905 in honor of Marshall Field, its major benefactor. In 1921, the Museum was moved from its original site in Jackson Park to its present site on Chicago Park District property near downtown, where it is part of a lakefront Museum Campus that includes the John G. Shedd Aquarium and the Adler Planetarium.
The Field’s mission is both scientific and educational in nature. According to its mission statement, “The Field Museum is an educational institution concerned with the diversity and relationships in nature and among cultures. It provides collection-based research and learning for greater public understanding and appreciation of the world in which we live. Its collections, public learning programs, and research are inseparably linked to serve a diverse public of varied ages, backgrounds, and knowledge.”
This issue of Technos eZine features interviews with officers of The Field Museum’s Education Programs.