Tours and Programs for Math, Science and Technology

 

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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 Art Gallery offers yet another perspective on the natural world – that of the wildlife artist. Animal artists are typically highly skilled in observing and recording details of an animal’s form and environment. At the gallery, your students can compare wildlife in natural environments from around the world all in one day.

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
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
   
Enrichment Options:  
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
   
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
   
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
   
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
   
Architecture (Grades 7-12)
Genesee Country Village & Museum was originally founded as a museum of architecture. Buildings were carefully chosen from all over western New York for their architectural or historical significance and relocated to their present sites. Students will learn to recognize distinguishing characteristics of buildings in log house, salt-box, cobblestone, Georgian, Federal, Greek Revival and Victorian Italianate styles.
NYS Standards Met: MST1, 5
Dates Offered: Fall and Spring

 

Museum Educator-Guided Tours of the Historic Village
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.
 
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
   
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
   
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
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.
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
   
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
   
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
   
Switchel, Cole Cannon and Pudding: Food 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
   
Life in the Burned-Over District: Church and Community in 19th-Century America (Grades 7-12)
This unit will explore some of the various religious groups that made the Genesee Country their home. Students will explore places of worship and learn about what each faith believed, how they were involved in the community, who belonged to the group, and what major forces were shaping the group at the time. Students will participate in an activity or demonstration that illustrates each group’s identity and beliefs. Throughout this experience, students will focus on similarities and differences and how diversity created a vibrant community.
NYS Standards Met: MST4, 6
Dates Offered: Fall and Spring

 

Outdoor Science Programs at Genesee Country Nature Center
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
   

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.
NYS Standards Met: MST1, 4, 6
Dates Offered: Year Round
   
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
 

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.
NYS Standards Met: MST1, 4, 6
Dates Offered: Fall
   
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
 

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.
NYS Standards Met: MST1, 4, 6
Dates Offered: Year Round
   
Geology and Fossils of the Genesee Country (Grades 5-12)
This program begins with an introduction to minerals, rocks and geological landforms, followed by a more in-depth consideration of local geology, specifically the formation of sedimentary rocks and fossils during the Devonian period and the effects of glaciation in Western New York. On a hike, students search for and identify outcrops of bedrock, glacial erratics, fossils and general landscape features.
NYS Standards Met: MST1, 4, 6
Dates Offered: Fall and Spring
 

Finding Your Way (Grades 4-12)
Through the use of compass, simple math, problem-solving skills, trail signs and basic plant and animal knowledge, your students will travel around the nature center trails discovering the diverse ecosystems found on Flint Hill. The program begins with an introduction to compass use and a practice session. Then each group is given a set of clues and riddles leading them to a specific area, geared to their grade level. As the group follows their clues, they will answer questions by the guiding naturalists to continue on their journey. After solving the clues and finding their way, the class will divide into smaller groups and write their own clues for their classmates. The students will then undertake a second journey created by their fellow students.
NYS Standards Met: MST1, 3, 4, 6, 7
Dates Offered: Year Round

 

Focused Field Studies at Genesee Country Nature Center
Ecosystem Study: Deciduous Woodland (Grades 3-12)
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
   
Pond Exploration (Grades 3-12)
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
   
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

 

Seasonal Programs

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.
NYS Standards Met: MST1, 4, 6, 7
Dates Offered: December through February

 

Movable Museum

Can't make it to the museum? Let us bring our “Moveable Museum” programs to you. These in-classroom 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.
 
19th-Century Games (Grades 2-12)
Who doesn’t love playing with the simple toys of yesterday? Students are encouraged to try jackstraws, cup-and-ball, the whimmy-diddle, buzz saw and much more. Those who like a challenge can try to identify the strategies involved in each game and the physics principles that underlie each toy. The program also provides topics for discussing and/or writing about resource use, the purpose of play, and the comparison of how a young person’s time was – and is – split among work, school and play.
NYS Standards Met: MST1, 3, 4, 5, 6
Dates Offered: Year Round
 

19th-Century Fashion (Grades 7-12)
Costuming is an integral interpretive tool at Genesee Country Village & Museum. In this program, we bring you a sampling of 19th-century clothing styles along with explanations of the origins and functions of costume elements. The program can be customized to suit your specific needs and time frame and may be requested in either a lecture format or as a fashion show. Pricing reflects the number of models and program length.
NYS Standards Met: MST1, 5
Dates Offered: Year Round
   
Quilting (Grades 3-12)
Making a quilt was a way to help keep a 19th-century family warm, and it was also a means for artistic self-expression. Learning about quilts is a way to understand more about 19th-century American life, art, design, communication and even geometry. Our quilter shares 19th-century quilt patterns and demonstrates how quilts are put together. Students learn the importance and origins of quilting and how quilted items were used for a variety of purposes.
NYS Standards Met: MST1, 3, 5, 6, 7
Dates Offered: Year Round
   

The Tinsmith (Grades 3-12)
In this inquiry-based program, our Genesee Country tinsmith brings some of his shiny wares as well as the tools he uses to make them so your students can see both process and result. Students are challenged to figure out how this technology was employed to solve specific problems and meet particular needs. The tinsmith also shares insights into his role in early American economies and compares it to that of his 21st-century counterpart – the hardware store.
NYS Standards Met: MST1, 3, 4, 5, 6
Dates Offered: Year Round
   

The Little Red Schoolhouse (Grades 4-8)
Let us turn your classroom into a 19th-century oneroom schoolhouse. Our museum educator reminds students of the rules of discipline while guiding them through their lessons. They are asked to engage in cooperative learning, practice their penmanship, use a slate and read stories from a McGuffey reader.
NYS Standards Met: MST3, 5, 6
Dates Offered: Year Round
   

The Animal Kingdom (Preschool-Grade 3)
A museum naturalist visits your classroom and brings a group of small animal friends for your students to meet. This program focuses on animal diversity and biological adaptations.
NYS Standards Met: MST1, 4, 6
Dates Offered: November through February
   
The General Store (Grades 4-12)
Armed with 19th-century wares and dry goods for your inspection, our storekeeper introduces your students to this uniquely American institution that gave flavor and personality to 19th-century villages. Your students learn about the general storekeeper’s multifaceted role in the community and how the store contributed to an area’s settlement. Modifiable to meet your students’ particular needs, the program is an engaging way to learn about world wide trade, household and business economics, pricing systems, profit margins and customer service – 19th-century style.
NYS Standards Met: MST1, 3, 5, 6
Dates Offered: Year Round
   

Objects from History (Grades 4-12)
Our museum educator brings unusual and everyday objects from the 19th century to your classroom. Students have the opportunity to examine the objects and discover on their own how people devised technological solutions to meet their specific needs. This program provides ample opportunities to compare the tools and constructs of the past with those of today, and is an excellent starting point for further research.
NYS Standards Met: MST1, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7
Dates Offered: Year Round
   

Wildlife of the Genesee Country (Grades 4-12)
A visit from our museum naturalist helps your students 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 students with plenty of opportunities to examine animal skulls, bones and skins as well as live specimens.
NYS Standards Met: MST1, 4, 5, 6, 7
Dates Offered: November through February
   

History in the Kitchen (Grades 7-12)
A museum cook shows how she uses 19th-century cookbooks, household inventories, diaries, and letters to recreate menus of the past and to understand how people prepared, stored and served their food. She brings receipts (recipes) as well as examples of cookware and other kitchen utensils to illustrate this most “tasteful” approach to learning about the past.
NYS Standards Met: MST1, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7
Dates Offered: Year Round
 

Victorian Yuletide (Grades 7-12)
Festive seasonal decorating flourished in Victorian America, and preparations began months in advance. Using historical documentation reflecting the cultural origins of various Victorian holiday traditions, a museum educator facilitates your students’ recreation of the spirit and charm of 19th-century yuletide celebrations.
NYS Standards Met: MST1, 5, 6
Dates Offered: Year Round