Curriculum

Crunchy Outside; Gooey Inside

• Program Type: Next Generation Science Standard
• NGSS: 4-LS1-1, 4-LS1-2
• Core Ideas: Plants and animals have internal and external structures that function to support survival, growth, behavior, and reproduction
• Offered: Field Trip
• Grade(s): 4th Grade
• Length: 2 Hours
• Dates Offered: Year-Round

In this exciting outdoor field trip, students will dive into the fascinating world of insects and the vital roles they play in ecosystems! Students will get up close and personal with insects in their natural habitats and investigate how specialized structures help them to survive.

Dump Busters

• Program Type: Next Generation Science Standard
• NGSS: MS-ESS3-1
• Core Ideas:
• Offered: Field Trip
• Grade(s): 6th, 7th, 8th Grades
• Length: 2 Hours
• Dates Offered: Year-Round

In this inspiring outdoor field trip to Hitchcock Nature Center, middle school students will learn how community action protected a valuable natural space from becoming a landfill. Through storytelling, site exploration, and discussion, students will discover how a local group called the Dumpbusters came together to preserve the land—and why their efforts still matter today--demonstrating how humans impact environmental change.

Population Dynamics

• Program Type: Next Generation Science Standard
• NGSS:
• Core Ideas:
• Offered: Field Trip
• Grade(s): 6th, 7th, 8th Grades
• Length: 2 Hours
• Dates Offered: Seasonal
• Seasons Offered: Fall, Winter,

In this dynamic field trip, middle school students will dive into the world of raptor migration and ecosystem monitoring through our local HawkWatch program. Students will meet a seasonal HawkWatch biologist, learn about their daily work tracking migrating raptors, and explore the tools and techniques used in the field. Using real HawkWatch data, students will analyze trends in bird populations and discuss how changes in ecosystems—such as habitat loss and climate shifts—can impact population dynamics over time.

This program emphasizes the value of long-term scientific data in understanding environmental change and supports key middle school science standards related to data analysis, ecosystem interactions, and human impact on the environment. It's an engaging blend of citizen science, wildlife conservation, and real-world STEM learning.

What's For Lunch?

• Program Type: Next Generation Science Standard
• NGSS: 5-LS2-1
• Core Ideas: There are interdependent relationships in ecosystems
• Offered: Field Trip
• Grade(s): 5th Grade
• Length: 2 Hours
• Dates Offered: Year-Round

In this interactive outdoor field trip, students will explore our local ecosystem, identifying producers, consumers, and decomposers and their role in the transfer of energy to create a food web. 

What's the Fuss About Loess?

• Program Type: Next Generation Science Standard
• NGSS: MS-ESS2-2
• Core Ideas:
• Offered: Field Trip
• Grade(s): 6th, 7th, 8th Grades
• Length: 2 Hours
• Dates Offered: Year-Round

On this outdoor field trip to Hitchcock Nature Center, middle school students will experience geoscience in action as they explore the unique geological landform of the Loess Hills in western Iowa. Through a guided hike, hands-on activities, and field investigations, students will observe how wind and water shaped these rare hills over thousands of years. They'll examine soil composition, erosion patterns, and slope formations to better understand the powerful Earth processes that continue to shape the landscape today.