Education
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Youth & Family Programs
Register for Camps, Science Saturdays, Conservation Club, Exploration Station, Naturalist in Training, Preschool Curiosity Club
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School & Teacher Programs
Sign up for School Field Trips, Classoom Kits, LiMPETS, Watershed Guardians, Student Research Symposium, Teacher Workshops
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Adult Classes
Become a California Naturalist or a UC Climate Steward
School Programs
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Use the Museum’s Education Collection in your classroom! Outreach kits are free and available for 2-week check out. Kits contain collections of items, tools, books, posters, models, games, puppets, and curriculum. Put exciting museum specimens and science tools in your students' hands.
Coastal Ecology
Shells, skulls, pelts, and other specimens are in this classroom kit to help your students learn about coastal ecosystems around Monterey Bay. Curriculum focuses on food chains, adaptations, and conservation.
Fossils
Your students can hold a stegosaurus spine, make a trace fossil, and identify fossils using guidebooks and posters. Kit contents inspire students to learn about dinosaurs, fossils, and geologic timescales.
Monarchs and Pollinators
This kit provides museum education collections items and curriculum to explore monarch adaptations, life cycle, and migration. Materials also explore other pollinators including bees, hummingbirds, beetles, moths, bats, and other butterflies. The curriculum includes activities on adaptations like camouflage and mimicry; ideas on using pollinator science in math, writing, and science learning; and activities that focus on conservation.
Monterey Bay Cultures - Chinese Fishing Villages
This kit provides museum education collections items, tools, books, posters, activity materials, models, and curriculum to explore the Chinese Fishing Villages of Monterey Bay and other fishing cultures in this area. The curriculum focuses on history, culture, and environmental conservation. For the video, use the Film Link.
Monterey Bay Cultures – Natural Resources of the Ohlone
This kit includes the resources in the lower grades kit and includes additional resources on Monterey’s Japanese-American fishing people and their history.
Rocks and Minerals
This kit contains dozens of rock and mineral specimens, tools, books, posters, and curriculum to explore rocks and mineral formation and chemistry, the rock cycle, rock identification, geologic time, and other geology topics.
Skins, Skulls, and Scat (Box #1, Box #2)
This kit provides museum education collections items and curriculum to explore predator-prey, food chains, adaptations, tracks, and local animals in their habitats.
C-MORE Science Kits
C-MORE Science Kits offer lesson plans and materials for hands-on science activities in a self-contained format. They are designed for use with a range of grade levels. Each kit provides the information and supplies necessary for educators to teach their students about a particular topic in oceanography.
Topics include: Marine Debris, Marine Mystery, Knots, Ocean Acidification, Ocean Conveyor Belt, Plankton, & Random Sampling.
Questions? Email Education@PGMuseum.org
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LiMPETS (Long-term Monitoring Program and Experiential Training for Students) is an environmental monitoring and education program for students, educators, and volunteer groups. The LiMPETS network provides authentic, hands-on coastal monitoring experiences that empower teachers, students and the community to conduct real science and serve as ocean stewards.
The Pacific Grove Museum of Natural History provides this program free of charge to Monterey County schools.
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Choose from field trips for your grade, and add a tour of the Monarch Sanctuary for your class.
Schedule a class field trip here.
Questions? Email Education@PGMuseum.org
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Grades 6-12 teachers can support their students to participate in our annual Student Research Symposium.
Learn more and register for the symposium here
Questions? Email Education@PGMuseum.org
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Watershed Guardians is a free program that provides an opportunity for students in grades 6-12 to participate in project based learning by taking water quality data in their local watershed.
Teacher Workshops
Both our LiMPETS and Watershed Guardians programs offer teacher workshops and 1:1 coaching. Please reach out to our program coordinator for more information at jjohnston@pgmuseum.org.
Teacher Open Houses
Calling all teachers! We periodically host after-hours open houses for Monterey County teachers to have a chance to meet our museum educators and educators from other local environmental organizations to see what educational programs and supplemental curriculum we offer schools during the school year. Keep an eye out for the next one in 2025.
Other Resources
THIRD ANNUAL : April 2025
Student Research Symposium
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We are excited to invite teams of up to 5 students to apply and attend the third annual PG Museum Student Research Symposium. Students must be in grades 6-12, no more than 5 students in a group. More information to come in 2025.
A Student Research Symposium provides an opportunity for students to showcase their original research. The PG Museum SRS provides opportunities for students in grades 6-12 to showcase different levels of scientific inquiry. We will invite a panel of reviewers to provide feedback on projects, however, this is ultimately an event for students to learn through the experience of conducting an inquiry, analyzing the data and reporting on their findings.\
This program is funded by Youth Learning as Citizen Environmental Scientists YLACES
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Display their research poster in the Museum for the general public, visiting scientists and a panel of reviewers
Be prepared to answer questions about their project for the reviewers
Learn about career opportunities in STEAM
Meet local scientists who are conducting local research
Participate in activities related to Watershed Guardians/LiMPETS
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Create a poster showcasing the students’ original research and data collection
Register — Registration opens January 2024
Return photo release to PG Museum via email to the address below
Submit posters 12:00PM, April 14, 2024 via email to the address below
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To access the resources below you will need to use the following username and password.
Username: WaterAdventurer03@globe.gov
Password: PGM2023!GLOBE Poster Template with Sentence Starters
GLOBE US Regional Symposia – Student Resources
GLOBE Peer Review Feedback Form
Posters will be printed by the Museum sized to 24x36 in
Adult Programs
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About
The California Naturalist course will introduce you to the wonders of our local ecology and engage you in the stewardship of California’s natural communities. The course will combine a science curriculum with guest lecturers, field trips, and project-based learning to immerse you in the natural world of Monterey County.
Registration
The next California Naturalist course will be offered Fall 2025. Registration will open in late August 2025.
California Naturalist Course Syllabus
Course format
The class will meet from 6:00-8:00 each Wednesday evening online and every other Saturday in-person at a different field site in Monterey County. The online classes involve guest speakers as well as group and individual work. Field trips involve hands-on learning in the field with a guest expert. Students will also participate in a group capstone project and will take part in at least one community science project.
Tuition
Tuition is $450. PGMNH Member receive a 10% discount. PGMNH volunteers and staff from partner organizations receive a 20% discount. We have a limited number of 50% discount scholarships for professionals working in environmental education or interpretation in the first 2 years of their career. For information on discounts and scholarships, email education@pgmuseum.org.
Cancellations
Registrants may cancel up to two weeks before the first day of instruction for a full refund, minus a $20 administrative fee. Registrants that cancel in the period two weeks of the beginning of instruction, up to 1 week after instruction has begun may re-enroll in the following year's course at a 50% discounted rate, with priority for early registration.
Cancellation at any other time will not result in a refund.
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Climate Stewards will return in 2025!
Youth & Family Programs
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Conservation Club promotes discovery and enjoyment of the natural world by encouraging curiosity, exploration, and fostering lifelong stewardship and advocacy to youth grades 3-8 and their families. Club meetings will focus on developing awareness of and appreciation for nature by exploring a topic from our local natural history with a science expert and then participating in a hands-on building project related to that topic.
Club members may be dropped off or, with a Family Membership, participate with their families. Families who have a Museum Family Membership may have up to 2 family members attend workshops and naturalist hikes with their registered Conservation Club member.
Conservation Club meets on the 2nd Saturday of the month from 10:00 am - 12:00 pm.
Upcoming Conservation Club meetings: (Check back in January for the Spring Semester)
Registration fee for Conservation Club members is $30 per meeting which includes costs of materials for each club member. Interested families can also sign up for all three meetings!
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Exploration Station is a free weekly interactive learning space for guests of all ages to engage in hands-on exploration and discovery. Here at the Pacific Grove Museum of Natural History, education comes alive, and children of all ages are encouraged to chase their curiosities and explore their interests. Children and their families, teachers, and other caregivers are all welcome to enjoy this special space. The majority of our activities are designed for children PreK-8th grade, but we encourage people of all ages to explore our exhibits and experience the fun of learning.
Offered every weekend: (during normal days of operation)
Friday - Sunday
10:30 am - 11:30 am
1:30 pm - 2:30 pm
For upcoming Exploration Stations visit our Events Calendar
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The Naturalists in Training is a year-long internship program for high school students. Interns participate in training on natural history, conservation, science education, and use their knowledge and skills to work with museum visitors.
Click here for more information on Naturalists in Training and to complete the application.
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Preschool Curiosity Club is where our youngest naturalists and their caregivers explore nature and conservation together. We meet at the Museum from 10-11 on the first Saturday of the month and at Locke Paddon Pond in Marina from 10-11 on the third Saturday of the month.
Children aged 3-5 can attend with an adult caregiver for FREE. This program is completely bilingual, and children will build science vocabulary in both Spanish and English while building school-readiness skills. Parents will learn new ways of exploring nature with their children and meet other families.
This FREE club is made possible by a generous grant from Pebble Beach Foundation.
Upcoming Club Meetings:
Saturday, September 7th – At the Museum: Plants and Animals
Saturday, September 21st – At Locke Paddon Park in Marina: Plants and Animals
Saturday, October 5th – At the Museum: Spooky Science
Saturday, October 19th – At Locke Paddon Park in Marina: Spooky Science
Saturday, November 2nd – At the Museum: Butterflies and Bees
Saturday, November 16th – At Locke Paddon Park in Marina: Butterflies and Bees
Saturday, December 7th – At the Museum: Wonders of Winter
Saturday, December 14th – At Locke Paddon Park in Marina: Wonders of Winter
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Admission is FREE!
Science Saturdays are held on the last Saturday of every month, during the academic year, from 10:00 am - 3:00 pm. Join in on themed activities, crafts, workshops, and lectures.
Upcoming Science Saturdays:
August 31st, 2024: Backyard Birds
September 28th, 2024: Biodiversity
October 26th, 2024: Spooky Science
November 30th, 2024: Monarchs and Pollinators
Day Camps & Summer Camps
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Our first Day Camp for the 2025 will be for MLK Day on Monday, January 20. Check back soon to register.
Registration for 2025 summer camp will open in mid-February for family membership levels and above, and March 1 for the general public.
Summer camps are finished for the year and we want to thank all of our sponsors, camp families, volunteers, and NIT interns who made this year’s camps such a success! A special shout out to Montage Health Foundation for providing financial and training support for our camps.
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Item description
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We hope you’re able to come to camp, but if not, please reach out to us at the Education@PGMuseum.org or by calling/texting 831-282-2267. To receive a refund, cancellations must be made at least 2 weeks prior to the start of camp. All refunds/rescheduling is subject to a $25 administrative fee.
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You can do so at this link. Or by calling 831-648-5716
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Please contact us, and keep in mind it is very helpful if you provide a screenshot of any error message.
Email: education@pgmusem.org
Call/Text: 831-282-2267
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We do offer scholarships, though resources are limited. We will accommodate as many families as possible. Priority will be given to those who apply by March 31, 2024. Applicants will be notified by April 15 or within two weeks if applying after 4/1/2024.
Naturalists in Training
An internship for high school students
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The Naturalists in Training is an internship for high school students. Interns hone their skills in science communication, natural history, and conservation. They use their knowledge and skills to work with Museum visitors of all ages.
There are 2 internship tracks: a summer-only program and a school-year program. Students may choose to apply for one or both, depending on the student’s interests and availability.
Questions? Email the Volunteer Coordinator.
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There are 2 internship tracks: a summer-only program and a school-year program. Students may choose to apply for one or both, depending on the student’s interests and availability.
The summer track is recommended for students with summer availability and who would like to gain professional experience in the education field.
Summer track participants must be able to attend an all-day workshop on Saturday, May 31 (9:00 am - 3:00 pm) and must have enough availability for at least 2 weeks of summer camp (Mon-Fri from June-July, 8:30 am - 4:30 pm).
Summer track Naturalists in Training
Program goes from late May – early August
Recommended for students who:
Have summer availability.
Are interested in working with kids and developing leadership and teamwork skills.
Would like to gain professional job experience in the education field.
Are going into grades 10 or above.
1 required all-day workshop on science communication, summer camp training, and working with kids (May)
Assist in 2 weeks of summer camp (10 shifts total, June – July)
Mentor kids, help plan and lead science activities, art projects, games, and more for kids of grades K-2 or grades 3-5.
Each NIT will be assigned to different weeks of camp between June and July.
Join an end-of-summer workshop and celebration (early August).
Receive experience, mentoring, volunteer credits, and a stipend (optional).
Questions? Email our Volunteer Coordinator.
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There are 2 internship tracks: a summer-only program and a school-year program. Students may choose to apply for one or both, depending on the student’s interests and availability.
The school year program is recommended for students with school year weekend availability and who would like to gain experience in the environmental sciences and conservation fields.
Participants must be able to attend an all-day workshop in August and have enough school year availability to participate in at least 12 volunteer shifts from August - April and participate in the 4 enrichments.
School year track Naturalists in Training
Program goes from August – April.
Recommended for students who:
Have school year weekend availability.
Are interested in science communication.
Would like to gain field experience in the environmental and conservation fields.
Are going into grades 9 or above.
1 required all-day workshop on natural history and science communication (Saturday, August 9, 9:00 am - 3:00 pm).
Serve as a Naturalist in Training for 12 Museum volunteer shifts like Community Outreach, Science Saturdays, and other Museum Education programs.
Participate in 4 enrichments throughout the school year engaging in local field science and conservation projects.
September
November
January
March
Join an end-of-year celebration (April).
Receive experience, mentoring, volunteer credits, and a stipend (optional).
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For the summer program, any high school student (going into grades 10 or above) may apply.
For the school year program, any student going into grades 9 - 12 may apply.
A Naturalist in Training needs to enjoy working with children and the public, have an appreciation for science and nature, and be willing to learn new things. Look at the descriptions of the summer and school year tracks to see which ones most closely match your interests and availability.
NITs are required to follow safety safety guidelines, show up on-time, and prepared for trainings and volunteer shifts. See the descriptions of the summer and school year programs for availability requirements.
Questions? Email the Volunteer Coordinator.
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Complete the application to apply or complete the form to be notified when applications are open for next year. We will have applications open in January 2025.
Questions? Email the Volunteer Coordinator.
Applications for the 2024 - 2025 school year are now closed.
We will open applications for the 2025-2026 internship in January 2025. If you would like to be alerted as soon as applications are open, leave your contact information using the form.
Museum Field Trips
The Museum provides a wide variety of free school educational programs during the school year aligned with the Next Generation Science Standards taught by our education staff.
These fun, hands-on learning in the Museum and/or virtual experiences are designed for elementary school students. Our programs last 30 minutes in the classroom followed by a chaperone-guided museum tour and scavenger hunt. We can accommodate two classes from the same school in a 1-hour time block, and require a 1:8 chaperone to student ratio.
Add a Monarch Sanctuary Field Trip (Nov - Feb)
Take a journey through the life of migrating monarchs with our incredible docents at the Pacific Grove Monarch Sanctuary! During migration season (November-February), the Sanctuary is a great spot to learn about monarchs, local pollinators, and food webs.
Located approximately 1 mile from the Museum, the Monarch Sanctuary is a great addition to any Museum field trip. Check the box on the reservation form to let us know you are interested in visiting the Sanctuary with your class in addition to the museum. If a docent is available, they can accommodate a class of up to 30 students for a half hour program at the Sanctuary.
The Museum is proud to offer free educational opportunities throughout Monterey County and beyond. To support these efforts, schools that are able should consider a donation of $1 per visiting student.
Field Trip Scheduling
Please select your field trip theme and make a booking using the form below. Your field trip is not confirmed until you receive confirmation from the Museum's Education Department. If you have any questions about a field trip or class program, please contact education@pgmuseum.org.