In this Earth and Planetary Science course students will learn about the latest research conducted at the Museum through interactions with scientists, lectures, hall visits and hands-on activities. 

This class will introduce you to the variety of stars out there, from white dwarves to red giants, and G-type stars, like our Sun, to recently discovered brown dwarf stars that are changing our thoughts on what a star even is. 

Learn the ways that the genetic makeup of a population can change over time, and how new species are formed.

Our class will investigate NYC’s natural history from a pre-colonial Eden to concrete jungle, learn the skills of ecological research, and roam the Halls of the Museum (after hours!). We will visit Central Park, Inwood Park, and the shores of the Hudson River to learn about the diversity of animals and plants living right on our doorstep. Our class will also discuss what is needed to improve our NYC environment as we debate current conservation issues, including climate change resilience, environmental justice, hydrofracking, and urban re-wilding.

This course will introduce the principles and techniques of conservation biology, the causes of species extinctions and how the environment is changed over time by human activity.

In this course, we will examine fossil skull casts from human relatives to sculpt facial reconstructions on 3D-printed skulls. We will examine differences in skulls, create detailed facial musculature, apply tissue-depth markers, and make interpretations about where they lived and how they died.