School Programs, Grades 6 to 12

Please Note: Our online school programs are temporarily unavailable. For the latest updates on registration opening dates for spring 2026, please check back here in early 2026 and/or sign up for our Museum Newsletter. 

Online Programs

Online Programs with Supplemental Resources

(Please note that the minimum number of students needed in attendance to run a virtual school program is 15. If you have less than 15 students, please register for a Virtual Homeschool Day.)

Hot Potato: Climate Change, Food Systems, and You Online Program
During this museum educator-led program, students will investigate the connections between their lives and climate change through the lens of food! This interactive virtual program offers an opportunity to explore agricultural systems, review data, and learn about the relationship between climate change and potatoes.

Human Origins: What does it mean to be human? Online Program
During this museum-educator-led program, students will explore what it means to be human through an investigation of Turkana Boy, a 1.6-million-year-old fossil hominin from Kenya. By examining virtual museum collections, students will gain a better understanding of paleoanthropology, human evolution, and how scientists reconstruct human prehistory.

Reefs Unleashed Online Program
During this museum educator-led program, students explore biodiversity on a coral reef using the same methods as Smithsonian scientists. Students will practice science skills of observing, classifying, and quantifying organisms living on coral reefs using real data collected by field scientists with Autonomous Reef Monitoring Structures (ARMS). They will use their observations to understand how biodiversity is related to ecosystem resilience, and how humans are impacting these vital ocean habitats.

Other Online Programs

Online Self-Guided Tour: Sant Ocean Hall
This activity will guide students through a virtual exploration of the Sant Ocean Hall. By navigating through a variety of ocean exhibits, students will investigate some of our most fascinating specimens. At each of the eight tour stops, students will make observations and respond to questions in order to explore the themes of a global ocean, marine biodiversity, and human impacts on the natural world.

Teaching Resources

Featuring hundreds of options, our Teaching Resources collection includes activities, videos, and science literacy resources for Grades 6 to 12.

Questions?

Contact the School Programs Team by emailing NMNHSchoolPrograms@si.edu.