Bookings are now open for the 2024/25 school year
Planning, prices and pre-visit information
If you wish to check availability before you complete the form, either email us or call on 01223 331875.
To make your zine you will need:
Asteriornis maastrichtensis, affectionately known as the Wonderchicken, is among the most exciting bird fossils ever found. It has one of the best-preserved fossil bird skulls in the world, and gives us important insights into the evolutionary origins of modern birds.
Gravel Hunters is an educational resource that aims to encourage budding explorers of all ages to discover fossils for themselves on their doorsteps. From gardens to car parks and driveways, fossils can be unearthed in flint gravel from all sorts of environments - all you need to do is collect them.
This resource gives examples of some of the most common fossils found in flint gravel.
Scientists use all sorts of different ways to name the new plants, animals and fossils they find.
Two parts - Scientific names usually have two parts, just as people have a first name and a family name.
Latin or Ancient Greek - Often the names use words from Latin or Ancient Greek.
About the Session
This set of activities focusses on women in STEM, using objects from the Whipple Museum to explore:
Caroline Herschel and Maggie Aderin-Pocock (astronomy)
Hertha Ayrton (engineering)
Ida Freund (chemistry)
Marjory Stevenson (microbiology)
Rosalind Franklin and Deborah Ruffunduo (microscopy)
Duration: Can be booked as:
A 90-minute session in the museum- please note that our maximum group size is 45 due to the small size of the museum.
or
About the Session
This set of activities covers aspects of the Year 5 national curriculum unit "Earth and Space", using objects from the Whipple Museum to explore:
The solar system
Terrestrial, celestial and planetary globes
Space science today
Duration: Can be booked as:
About the Session
This set of activities covers aspects of the "animals, including humans" topic and can be adapted for KS1 or KS2, using objects from the Whipple Museum to explore:
How we hear
How we see
Bones
Organs
Duration: Can be booked as:
It is really unusual for a palaeontologist (scientist who study fossils) to find a complete skeleton with all the bones in the right place. We are more likely to find only a few bones or a jumbled up skeleton.
Putting a skeleton back to together when you know what the animal looks like can be a challenge, but imagine how hard that becomes when there are no more of those creatures alive for you look at. It is a bit like trying to put a jigsaw puzzle together when you don’t have the photo on the box as a guide.
How does burning fossil fuels threaten Antarctic marine life?
This experiment demonstrates the link between increasing carbon dioxide levels and ocean acidification and freshening oceans. Freshwater and more acidic water in the oceans make life harder for Antarctica’s marine animals.
The experiment and video were made by Nick Barrett. Nick is a PhD student at the University of Cambridge Earth Science Department and The British Antarctic Survey investigating the resistance of Antarctic marine species to predicted freshening and lower salinity in the Southern Ocean.
