Investigation Nature is ALT’s youth programming for students in grades 3rd-6th with expansion capabilities up through 12th grade on some programs. All our programs are written with STEM and the STEELS standards in mind and are designed to run 45-60 minutes.  These programs are a great as outreach programs, after school programs, and classroom visits.

Contact Julie to learn more about programming, pricing, and scheduling.

Grades 3 – 6:

• Animal Athletes: Who can hold their breath longer, you or a turtle? Students will compare their skills to some Pennsylvania animals to see how they stack up! 
• Apex Animals: What does it take to be on top? Students will explore some animals that reside on the top of their food chains and learn why they’re so important. 
• Better for Bees: Why are bees so important to human beings and the environment? Learn how to protect and conserve the natural world by participating in hands-on ways to help local bee populations. 
• Better for Birds: Birds are colorful and sing beautiful songs but are all birds the same? Learn about some local birds, make a feeder from recycled materials and even help them build their nests!  
• Better for Bugs: Bugs and other invertebrates have very important jobs in the environment, so what do they do? Participate in projects that encourage the “beneficial bugs” to stick around. 
• Better for You: What does the term organic mean and how can organic food products affect both our health and the environment? Create an organic snack and taste test it against its nonorganic counterpart. 
• Can You Plant a Pizza?**: How does a pizza come from a plant? Students will explore the origins of pizza ingredients before making and enjoying “pizza on a stick”! They will even plant their own pizza garden! 
• Carbon Crisis: What countries produce the most carbon emissions? Students will model and interpret data to better understand how carbon emissions impact a country’s economy and environment.  
• Footprint Forensics: What creatures have been bounding or waddling when we’re not around? Students will learn the different gaits and strides of Pennsylvania animals, as well as learn some basic track identification skills. 
• Geocaching 101*: Geocaching is an outdoor “treasure hunt” that has become a very popular hobby! Exactly what is it and how do you start? Learn the basics of geocaching and even use a GPS unit to find your first caches! 
• Lollipop Lab**: Are there plants in lollipops? Students will learn how the ingredients used in making lollipops are harvested from plants! Students will then become “flavorologists” and create a brand-new lollipop flavor!  
• Nature Games: How can games teach us about important processes and systems in nature? Find out in this activity and game based lesson.  
• Organic Fiesta**: What does it mean to be organic? In this lesson students will help to create organic salsa and compare it to a store-bought variety. 
• Owl Pellet Lab: An owl pellet can tell a story about a day in the life of an owl! What creatures did the owl have for dinner? Students will dissect owl pellets and identify the bones and fur left behind to determine what creature the owl devoured! 
• Pennsylvania Pollinators: What makes an animal a good pollinator? What pollinators live here in Pennsylvania and how can we help them? In this lesson, students will explore plant and pollinator relationships by working in teams to design an effective pollinator. 
• Pollinator Buffet**: What animals are pollinators and what vital role do they play in the ecosystem? Students will explore pollinators and sample foods reliant on animal pollinators for their existence.  
• Rethinking Resources: What are minerals and how do we rely on them? How does the mining of minerals affect land use? Students will “mine” for minerals and determine the opportunity costs of their mining operation. 
• Riverton*: How do our everyday choices affect our local watershed? In this highly interactive lesson, students will complete a geocaching course in order to make decisions and piece together how those decisions impacted the health of the local watershed. 
• Starry Skies: What stories do the stars tell us? Students will learn the folklore behind some commonly seen constellations and have the chance to create their own constellation and folklore behind it! 
• Stuff Your Beak**: What roles do “form and function” play when it comes to the shape of a bird’s beak? Students will explore how a bird’s beak is specially adapted to their needs and sample some of a bird’s favorite treats.  
• Too Many Bobcats: What is “carrying capacity” and how does it affect the number of bobcats in a habitat? Students will play a game and calculate the carrying capacity of bobcats in their classroom’s habitat.

Email Julie to discuss which programs are available for grades 7 through 12

* Denotes the need for an outdoor space
** Denotes lesson that is part of the Snack Science series