Aquarium Express Outreach
Plan Your Aquarium Express Outreach
Outreach Requests forms and Financial Aid applications are now open for the 2024-25 school year!
Our Aquarium Express van can travel to your school and provide students with a hands-on Discovery Lab in the comfort of their own classroom. All Birch Aquarium Discovery Labs are NGSS aligned, hands-on programs led by our educators that connect your student to exciting ecosystems, animals, and cutting edge research!
Financial Aid
Aquarium Express Outreaches are eligible for scholarship support.
Financial assistance is available to any school group that demonstrates need through responses to our Online Application. Title I schools and schools with a high %FRPM are prioritized when awarding available financial aid funds. All schools are welcome to apply.
Eligibility for Price Philanthropies is reserved for schools in need in City Heights and surrounding areas.
Program at Cost
Aquarium Express Outreaches are also available at cost and are provided upon request. If you are interested in booking an Outreach, please review the program offerings and policies below before submitting an Outreach request.
Policies
Review complete program information and policies before booking an Aquarium Express Outreach.
- Program Travel Distance
We are unable to provide programs that involve transportation of live animals outside of a 30-mile radius. The following programs can travel outside of 30 miles: Deep Sea Debris, Diving into DNA (returning January 2025), Fascinating Fish, Fish Diversity, and Fish or Squid Dissection.
- Teacher and Room Policy
Our programs involve the transportation of many materials and sometimes include live animals. To reduce set up time and stress on the animals, one consistent classroom or space is required for all sessions. Instructors cannot go classroom to classroom. At least one supervisory teacher must be present during the entire outreach program. Parent volunteers and other available school staff are highly encouraged to assist, especially for programs that include live animal touch.
- Cancellation/Rescheduling Policy
Cancellations, changes, and rescheduling must be made 4 weeks in advance so we may provide other schools with outreach opportunities. You will be responsible for a fee of $50 per program if your program is canceled or rescheduled less than 4 weeks in advance. Financial aid recipients: If you cancel your program within 4 weeks of your scheduled date, you forfeit your financial aid offer for the year.
Learning Resources
Explore our Pre and Post Program Resources that will enhance several of our NGSS aligned Discovery Lab programs.
Pre and Post Program Resources
Discovery Lab Programs by Grades
Ages 2-TK
Introduce pre-Kindergarten students to ocean habitats and organisms. Through guided explorations, students observe how animals feel, move, and behave while building investigation skills.
Price: $310
- Meet and Greet the Sea
Swim, crawl, walk: there are a lot of ways to get around in the sea. Learn how different animals move through play and animal interactions. Live animal touch included.
Science Concepts:
- Properties and Characteristics of Living Things
- Observation and Investigation
Grades K-2
Explore the wondrous ocean habitats of the Kelp Forest, Sandy Shores and Tide Pools. Students in the early elementary grades put their observation skills to use to understand patterns of how different animals survive in these unique habitats.
Price: $380
- Colossal Kelp (Grades K, 1)
Dive into the wonderful world of kelp as students learn about the kelp bed habitat and meet the amazing critters that call this underwater forest habitat home. Live animal touch included.
NGSS Alignment:- DCI: LS1.C: Matter and Energy Flow in Organisms, ESS3.A: Natural Resources
- CCC: Structure and Function, Patterns
- SEP: Analyzing and Interpreting Data, Engaging in Argument from Evidence
- Tide Pool Treasures (Grades K, 1)
Students explore the world of tide pools and learn how tide pool creatures find food, protect themselves, and move in this dynamic habitat. Live animal touch included.
NGSS Alignment:
- DCI: LS1.C: Organization for Matter and Energy Flow in Organisms, ESS3.A: Natural Resources
- CCC: Patterns, Structure and Function
- SEP: Analyzing and Interpreting Data, Engaging in Argument from Evidence
- Fascinating Fish (Grade 1)
What makes a fish a fish? Through exploration of a real fish specimen, students will investigate the unique structures of a fish.
NGSS Alignment:
- DCI: LS1.A: Structure and Function
- CCC: Patterns, System and System Models
- SEP: Constructing Explanations
- Sandy Shores (Grade 2)
How does water affect the sandy shore habitat? Students explore what sand is made of, how it is created, and the animals that live in the sand. Live animal touch included.
NGSS Alignment:
- DCI: LS4.D: Biodiversity and Humans, ESS2.A: Earth Materials
- CCC: Patterns, Cause and Effect, Structure and Function, Stability and Change
- SEP: Argument from Evidence, Constructing Explanations
Grades 3-5
Let your students get their hands on an understanding of structure and function with our Dissection Discovery Labs, or learn how we are connected to and impact the creatures of the ocean.
Price: $380
- Fish Diversity (Grade 3, 4)
Through hands-on exploration of biofacts and specimens, students will develop an understanding of the roles that adaptations in body shape, coloration, and teeth play in enabling fish to survive in diverse habitats.
NGSS Alignment:
- DCI: (Gr. 3) LS4.C: Adaptation (Gr. 4) LS1.A: Structure and Function
- CCC: Patterns, Cause and Effect
- SEP: Constructing Explanations, Argument from Evidence
- Creatures of the Kelp (Grades 3, 5)
Discover an underwater forest and its importance to marine organisms. How can changes in the environment affect this ecosystem? Live animal touch included.
NGSS Alignment:
- DCI: (Gr. 3) LS2.C Ecosystem Dynamics, Functioning, and Resilience, (Gr. 5) LS1.C: Matter and Energy Flow in Organisms
- CCC: Systems and System Models
- SEP: Developing Models, Analyzing and Interpreting Data
- Fish or Squid Dissection (Grades 4, 5)
Examine fish or squid inside and out through dissection of the animal.
- Grade 4 students will discover the structures that help the animal to swim, eat, and protect itself in the open ocean habitat.
- Grade 5 students will explore the role of the animal in the food chain based on their body structures and functions.
NGSS Alignment:
- DCI: (Gr. 4) LS1.A: Structure and Function, (Gr. 5) LS2.A: Interdependent Relationships in Ecosystems, LS2.B: Matter and Energy Transfer in Ecosystems
- CCC: Systems, Structure and Function
- SEP: Constructing Explanations, Argument from Evidence, Obtaining, Evaluating, and Communicating Information
Grades 6-8 and 9-12
Let your students become scientists through a dissection or exploration of an ocean phenomenon, learning about structure and function through an organism or systems approach.
Price: $380
- Diving into DNA (Grade 8)
Returning January 2025!
- Fish or Squid Dissection (Grades 6, 7 and 9-12)
As scientists, students use the mackerel or squid as their model subject.
- Grade 6 students will identify animal structures and their functions, as well as determine the system to which they belong.
- Grade 7 students will explore how the adaptations of the animal help them avoid predation and compete for resources within their ecosystem.
- Grades 9-12 students deepen the exploration of animal structures and their functions to discuss how the interactions of their systems help the animal survive.
NGSS Alignment:
- DCI: (Gr. 6, 9-12) LS1.A: Structure and Function, (Gr. 7) LS2.A: Interdependent Relationships in Ecosystems
- CCC: Structure and Function, Systems, Cause and Effect
- SEP: Constructing Explanations, Engaging in Argument from Evidence, Obtaining, Evaluating, and Communicating Information
- Deep Sea Debris (Grades 9-12)
Discover how human activity is impacting deep sea ecosystems. Students will collect data on the prey and plastics found in the stomachs of a deep sea predator, the longnose lancetfish, to understand how pollution impacts every part of our ocean planet.
NGSS Alignment
- DCI: LS2.C: Ecosystem Dynamics, Functioning, and Resilience
- CCC: Asking Questions and Defining Problems; Analyzing and Interpreting Data; Constructing Explanations and Designing Solutions
- SEP: Cause and Effect; Stability and Change