K-12 Field Trips Details

Opening up the worlds of forest history and ecology to your students

Elementary through High School groups are invited to visit Harvard Forest’s Fisher Museum and enjoy a guided nature walk on the Sanderson Farm Trail.

Itinerary:

There is some flexibility in the content and schedule for each field trip depending on the group’s needs and focus. A sample itinerary is listed below to show what an average group’s 2-3 hour visit would include:

• 25-30 minutes: Large group watches Harvard Forest slide show followed by brief group discussion as introduction.
• 50 minutes: Nature walk: Large groups split into two smaller groups for nature trail when 2 HF staff/volunteers are available. Naturalist guided walk of our Sanderson Farm Trail- virtual tour avail. online.

Harvard Forest Staff guided tour ends here. Teachers have the option of staying at Harvard Forest without a guide to do the following:

• 30-45 minutes: Lunch break- Both groups eat picnic lunches (bagged lunches brought by students) outside or in museum depending on weather.
• 45 minutes: Teachers may choose to do one or more of the following activities inside the Fisher Museum with their students:
  • Diorama scavenger hunt. Scavenger hunt sheets avail. in museum.
  • Diorama discussion: teachers may want to briefly introduce the “Land Use History” diorama –series of 7 dioramas depicting how the New England Landscape has changed over time. Online description available.
  • Museum worksheets: Teachers may use HF developed question sheets for downstairs or upstairs exhibits, or develop their own based on related school-based studies.

First Come First Serve Scheduling:

We recommend you call to plan your trip as far in advance as possible, as Harvard Forest hosts numerous community events in addition to field trips.

Itinerary Modifications:

Additional activities are available such as an environmental game led by HF staff person, or a scientist presentation related to their HF field studies. If this option is chosen, the Nature Trail interpretation would be shortened, or an additional charge would be applied for additional staff time.

Costs:

For groups of more than 25, please contribute $3-$5.00 per additional participant. For tours/programs of longer duration, please contribute an additional $50/hr. Scholarships are available based on need. Please contact us to request scholarships in advance. Please make checks payable to Harvard University and provide to Harvard Forest staff the day of the field trip.

Preparation:

We encourage you to spend some time reviewing our website at http://harvardforest.fas.harvard.edu/ to get an idea of what Harvard Forest is about. Aside from the direct links above, a review of the Museum web pages will give you an overview of the resources available here. The K-12 pages will introduce you to some of the outreach field ecology projects we support at school sites as well. There is also information about Harvard Forest publications that you may be interested in obtaining.

Questions:

Feel free to contact us with questions regarding any of the information here or something we may not have touched upon that will impact your field trip plans.

Contact:

Pamela Snow, Schoolyard Coordinator, at (978) 756-6146 or email at psnow@fas.harvard.edu to schedule a date and discuss a suitable agenda for your field trip. Once a suitable plan has been discussed , an HF staff person will email you the link to our online reservation system. This form must be completed prior to final confirmation of your reservation.

We look forward to seeing you here at Harvard Forest.