Staten Island students engage in science at NYC Museum of Natural History | In Class column

IN CLASS: This feature is part of an ongoing education column highlighting the various activities that engage school communities.

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. — Students at a Staten Island elementary school were recently able to take part in a week-long residency program at the American Museum of Natural History.

PS 54 in Willowbrook sent two classes to travel to the museum in Manhattan every day for one week — allowing students to engage in various activities throughout different exhibits in the museum, according to Amanda Henderson, a special education teacher at the school. It’s part of the American Museum of Natural History’s Beyond Elementary Explorations in Science (BEES) program, a new educational pilot that offers a week-long field trip experience for New York City public schools.

It’s one of three new educational programs launched in conjunction with the opening of the Richard Gilder Center for Science, Education, and Innovation. Classes are invited to treat the entire museum campus as their classroom for the week and engage with exhibitions, collections, educators and scientists as part of a curriculum that combines science, math, literacy and social studies for a hands-on, immersive learning experience. The museum utilizes a multi-sensory approach to meet the needs of all different types of learners.

While a traditional school field trip spans just one day, BEES transforms that experience over the course of one week. For PS 54 science students, they visited the Solomon Family Insectarium to understand the decline of insect populations worldwide, and the Davis Family Butterfly Vivarium to observe live butterflies and discover the butterfly lifecycle.

During the week-long program, students learned all there is to know about global ecosystems through the eyes of insects. Students took on the role of entomologists, explored the halls of the museum, asked scientific questions about insect behavior and traits, modeled local and global ecosystems, explained with evidence the role of insects within ecosystems, and designed solutions about the importance of insects.

Students used the museum as a classroom, exploring areas like the Hall of African Mammals, Hall of Ocean Life, Hall of North American Forest, Dinosaur Halls, Hall of Biodiversity and more. They also were able to meet different animal “ambassadors” to learn about the roles of different insects in the ecosystem.

The efforts build on the museum’s hallmark Urban Advantage (UA) program, a citywide partnership between the city Department of Education (DOE) and cultural organizations that launched in 2004 and served nearly 100,000 City students in 2022.

ENROLL IN IDENTITY MONITORING FOLLOWING INCIDENT

Earlier this year, thousands of New York City public school students and school staff were among millions of victims who had their personal information compromised through a MOVEit data breach. Approximately 45,000 students — in addition to school staff and related service providers — were affected by the breach. All individuals whose confidential information was compromised were notified.

Data impacted includes: Social Security Numbers, OSIS numbers, dates of birth, employee IDs, and approximately 19,00 documents access without authorization. Those types of documents include student evaluations/related services progress reports, Medicaid reports related to the provision of related services, and internal records related to DOE employees’ leave status.

And it’s not too late to enroll in identity monitoring. The deadline has been extended to Dec. 15.

If you received a letter from the DOE about this incident through its vendor, IDX, you have an opportunity to enroll in two years of free credit/identity protection services. The DOE will cover the cost, but you must enroll and activate the services.

To enroll in the credit/identity protection services, call 1-800-939-4170 or 1-888-429-9444, scan the QR code at the top of your letter, or visit https://app.idx.us/account-creation/protect. It only takes five minutes to enroll.

You will be asked to provide the Enrollment Code found at the top of your letter.

SEND US YOUR STORIES

Do you have a story idea for the In Class education column? Email education reporter Annalise Knudson at aknudson@siadvance.com.