Math, Science, and Technology
Math, Science and Technology
Opportunities to apply math, science and technology concepts to real-world settings abound for your students at the Genesee Country Village & Museum. In the historic village, our farm animals and gardens define a human-modified ecosystem ready for your students’ analysis, and our large variety of buildings made of logs, cobblestone, brick or wood framing can be the subject of engineering studies. Our collection represents an impressive array of technologies, from lighting and heating devices to ceramics and vehicles, all of which were invented to satisfy human needs. Machines, from levers to looms, are at work and ready for investigation at nearly every turn.
The 175-acre Genesee Country Nature Center is an outdoor laboratory for biology, ecology, geology and environmental studies. We offer naturalist-guided walks and a variety of outdoor science programs, structured to foster your students’ individual explora- tion and discovery.
The John L. Wehle Gallery offers one of the best privately held collections of historic clothing in the country plus extraordinary wildlife and sporting art that spans four centuries.
NYS Learning Standards:
MST1: Analysis, Inquiry and Design
MST2: Information Systems
MST3: Mathematics
MST4: Science
MST5: Technology
MST6: Interconnectedness: Common Themes
MST7: Interdisciplinary Problem Solving
Self Guided Tours of the Historic Village
Visit the historic village and take an exciting journey of discovery into the past. History comes alive as students spend time at homes, trades, businesses and public buildings that are most relevant to your curriculum plans and their interests. Use your Educator’s Preview Pass for a free advance visit, and then design a tour on which your students investigate, compare and contrast lives of 200 years ago with their own. |
| NYS Standards Met: |
MST1, 6 |
| Dates Offered: |
Mid-May through mid-October, Tuesdays – Fridays |
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Enrichment Options
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Enhance your guided or self-guided tour by scheduling a structured hands-on half-hour program lead by a museum educator.
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19th-Century Games (Grades 3-12)
Fun and leisure were important parts of children’s lives in the 19th century, just as they are today. However, the toys and games were often made at home and operated under child power instead of batteries. A session of structured kinesthetic activities invites students to try their skill at skittles, stilts, graces, rolling a hoop, cup-and-ball, the whimmy-diddle, buzz saw and much more. |
| NYS Standards Met: |
MST1, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 |
| Dates Offered: |
Fall and Spring |
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History Mysteries (Grades 3-12)
Do your students know how to use a boot jack – or what’s inside a tinderbox? In this program they’ll examine unusual and everyday objects from the 19th century to discover how people devised technological solutions to meet their needs. Students will have the opportunity to handle period objects and make comparisons to the tools and constructs of today. |
| NYS Standards Met: |
MST1, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 |
| Dates Offered: |
Fall and Spring |
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Nature Journaling (Grades 3-12)
Join nature center staff for a fun and relaxing afternoon full of nature journaling activities including writing, drawing and collaborative journaling. Explore the natural world in a different way and discover new things about nature and yourself. We will supply paper and pencils, or students may bring their own journals and preferred writing/drawing supplies. |
| NYS Standards Met: |
MST4 |
| Dates Offered: |
Fall and Spring – afternoons only |
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Wildlife of the Genesee Country (Grades 4-12)
Your students will learn about the animals native to the Genesee Country and how and why wildlife populations changed with the advent of Euro-American settlement. This history-based nature program provides opportunities to examine animal skulls, bones and skins as well as live specimens. |
| NYS Standards Met: |
MST1, 4, 5, 6, 7 |
| Dates Offered: |
Fall and Spring – afternoons only |
Museum Educator-Guided Tours of the Historic Village
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Take a specially designed tour of the 19h century with a museum educator. Each guided tour is approximately two hours long, and content is adaptable for your specific grade level. Students will be divided into grops of about 20 each, and groups will rotate among the historic structures.
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Early 19th-Century Lifeways
Students will travel through a century of American life. Compare homes and children's lives from the beginning to the end of the century. Visit with a tradesman who will demonstrate the latest developments in 19th century technology. Find out how early residents relied upon local business to provide commerce and communication. |
| NYS Standards Met: |
MST1, 6 |
| Dates Offered: |
Early May and late October, Tuesdays-Fridays |
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Theme Tours
Do you and your students have a particular interest? We can design a tour around a theme, such as architecture, horticulture, kitchens, textiles and trades. Please call us at (585) 538-6822 x216 to discuss your particular needs and interests. |
| NYS Standards Met: |
MST1, 6 |
| Dates Offered: |
Early May and late October, Tuesdays-Fridays |
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Pioneer Chore Tour (Grades 7-8 only)
Your middle school students will expend excess energy on this custom guided tour! Select from physical activities, such as building a fence, churning butter, and sawing wood. Watch our tradesmen at work and make a tin ornament. Learn about 19th-century hygiene and make a sweet bag. There may even be time for lessons at the schoolhouse and games on the Village Square. Please call us at (585) 538-6822 x216 to discuss your particular needs and interests. |
| NYS Standards Met: |
MST1, 6 |
| Dates Offered: |
Early May and late October, Tuesdays – Fridays (Additional dates available by special arrangement) |
Focused Field Study
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Teacher-developed and student-tested, Genesee Country Village & Museum Focused Field Studies provide immersive experiences for your students and allow you to direct attention to specific topics that coordinate with your curriculum plan.
Your students will work in small groups with museum staff in settings especially created to facilitate understanding and skill development. Field experiences vary but may include doing chores, cooking, interviewing specialists, drawing and sketching, collecting and analyzing samples, or performing.
When you choose a themed Focused Field Study, you’ll receive a study guide especially developed for that topic. Each includes pre-visit activities to prepare your students for their field experience as well as post-visit activities for use as follow-throughs or extensions. A historic context helps set the stage, and a topical bibliography of books, magazines, videos, and websites facilitates further exploration. Each guide also includes a vocabulary list, sample organizers and worksheets for copying as needed. |
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Businesses and Professions in 19th-Century America (Grades 4-8)
This unit uses a variety of settings to introduce students to ways people made a living in 19th-century America. They spend time visiting a family-owned inn for travelers, where they pitch in and help prepare for the next group of guests, and a general store, where they process inventory, sort mail, wrap packages and more to convince the storekeeper that they would make a fine clerk. Students may also interview specialists to find out what training, skills, and tools were needed to pursue jobs – some familiar and some not. |
| NYS Standards Met: |
MST1, 3, 4 |
| Dates Offered: |
Fall and Spring |
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Crafts and Trades in 19th-Century America (Grades 4-8)
This unit facilitates students’ exploration of how 19th century Americans met their communities’ needs and wants and how this changed through time in concert with advances in communication, transportation and technology. Students in small groups visit trades or crafts to determine the resources and process required to produce an item, the basic needs the item met, and the modes of its distribution. In each case, students have opportunities to perform at least one step in the production process they observe. Later, students visit village buildings to identify examples of the trades and crafts they documented in the morning and to determine how they were used, by whom and how regularly. |
| NYS Standards Met: |
MST1, 3, 4, 6 |
| Dates Offered: |
Fall and Spring |
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School, Work and Play: A Child’s Life Experienced in 19th-Century America (Grades 4-8)
A 19th-century child’s life was a mix of school, work and play – just as a 21st-century child’s life is – but there were differences too. This unit focuses on the activities that engaged children over 100 years ago. |
| NYS Standards Met: |
MST1, 3, 4, 6 |
| Dates Offered: |
Fall and Spring |
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Food: Cooking and Kitchen Technology in 19th-Century America (Grades 4-8)
This interdisciplinary unit uses food as a way to examine 19th-century American life. By participating in food-related activities at a series of homes from different times in the 1800s, students collect information that enables them to consider change through time and to compare and contrast the 19th century with the one in which they live today. Students will participate in a hands-on cooking activity and visit other kitchens to learn about ingredients and their sources, cooking and food-preservation technology, resource utilization, and relationships between food and culture. |
| NYS Standards Met: |
MST1, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 |
| Dates Offered: |
Fall and Spring |
Outdoor Science Programs at Genesee Country Nature Center
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Discover Your World (Preschool - K)
This program helps young children discover and become comfortable in the natural world. Children are encouraged to participate using all their senses. In addition to a walk, participants will have the opportunity to explore the nature center's exhibits and hands-on displays. |
| NYS Standards Met: |
MST1, 4, 6 |
| Dates Offered: |
Fall and Spring |
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Nature Walk (Grades 1-12)
After a brief introduction, students will walk through various habitats to observe and learn about natural communities, plant and animal populations and geology of the Genesee Country. Walks may be either general or focused on a particular theme at your request.
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| NYS Standards Met: |
MST1, 4, 6 |
| Dates Offered: |
Year Round |
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Special Place Visit - Vernal Pond (Grades 1-12)
Over the course of two visits, one in the fall and one in the spring, students observe the seasonal changes that take place in a deciduous woodland and learn about the unique and fragile nature of a vernal pond. |
| NYS Standards Met: |
MST1, 4, 6 |
| Dates Offered: |
Fall and Spring |
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Insects and Their Relatives (Grades 3-12)
This program provides an opportunity to study insects and related invertebrates up close. Topics include characteristics of insect and arthropod biology, insect life cycles, and beneficial and harmful insects. Live specimens are available for study, and your students have the opportunity to observe, collect and safely release insects in the wild.
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| NYS Standards Met: |
MST1, 4, 6 |
| Dates Offered: |
Fall |
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The Lives of Reptiles & Amphibians (Grades 3-12)
The nature center’s wetland and upland habitats host some 20 species of snakes, turtles, frogs, toads and salamanders. This introduction to the science of herpetology begins with a look at reptile and amphibian characteristics and continues with a walk to observe and study these cold-blooded vertebrates in their natural habitats. |
| NYS Standards Met: |
MST1, 4, 6 |
| Dates Offered: |
Spring |
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Introduction to Flowering Plants (Grades 3-12)
Students learn about different kinds of angiosperms (flowering plants), their anatomy, reproduction and role in the world’s ecosystems. On this naturalist-led hike, you and your students will take a seasonal look at the typical Genesee Country flowering plants, including wildflowers, trees, shrubs, vines and grasses. In the fall, the walk emphasizes fruits, nuts, seeds and seed-dispersal mechanisms. In the spring, the focus is on flowers and pollination and, in winter, the emphasis is on cold-weather survival adaptations of plants.
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| NYS Standards Met: |
MST1, 4, 6 |
| Dates Offered: |
Year Round |
Focused Field Studies at Genesee Country Nature Center
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Ecosystem Study: Deciduous Woodland (Grades 5-12)
Students observe and study the daily interactions between the living and non-living components of a deciduous woodland. Ecological concepts discussed include energy cycles, food chains, predator-prey relationships, niches and adaptations. The students also conduct a woodland plot study. |
| NYS Standards Met: |
MST1, 4, 6, 7 |
| Dates Offered: |
Fall and Spring |
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Pond Exploration (Grades 5-12)
Students investigate the physical characteristics of a pond and the diverse aquatic and plant life found there. They will compare and contrast the ecosystems of both temporary and permanent ponds. Students will use various equipment and techniques, including microscopes to collect and analyze data. |
| NYS Standards Met: |
MST1, 4, 6, 7 |
| Dates Offered: |
Spring |
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Sap, Syrup & Sugar (Grades K-12)
This popular program traces the history and science of maple sugaring from early American and present-day commercial production perspectives. Students hike to the sugar bush, learn why maple trees make sap, witness a 19th-century sugaring demonstration, talk with a modern-day syrup maker and taste the final product. |
| NYS Standards Met: |
MST1, 4, 5, 6, 7 |
| Dates Offered: |
Mondays – Fridays in March |
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Wild Winter Quest (Grades K-12)
Students will explore the winter woods to look for animal tracks and signs, discover animal and plant winter survival adaptations, and the mysteries of hibernation. Program fee includes snack with hot beverage and choice of live animal show, snowshoeing trek, or outdoor winter games.
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| NYS Standards Met: |
MST1, 4, 6, 7 |
| Dates Offered: |
December through February |
Moveable Museum
Can't make it to the museum? Let us bring our “Moveable Museum” programs to you. These learning experiences are excellent on their own or as a pre- or post-visit experience to enhance the lessons of your field trip.
Museum educators bring touchable, usable objects to your classroom in connection with standards-relevant themed programs specially designed to fit with your curriculum. Programs are designed for small class-sized groups and last 45-60 minutes.
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