An official website of the United States government
Here's how you know
Official websites use .gov A
.gov website belongs to an official government
organization in the United States.
Secure .gov websites use HTTPS A
lock (
) or https:// means you've safely connected to
the .gov website. Share sensitive information only on official,
secure websites.
Entrance to the Anchorage Alaska Public Lands Information Center exhibit hall
NPS/ANCH
Bring your students beyond the classroom and into an immersive learning experience where Alaska’s people, places, and stories come alive.
Anchorage Alaska Public Lands Information Center's exhibits are designed with K–12 learners in mind, offering an engaging, inquiry-based experience that invites students to explore at their own pace, ask questions, make connections, and discover meaning for themselves. Students can touch, listen, move, observe, investigate, and interact—creating opportunities for hands-on, kinesthetic learning throughout their visit.
The center offers four age-appropriate nature journals designed to connect directly with the exhibit experiences. They give students opportunities to observe, reflect, record discoveries, and continue asking questions- during, and after their visit. Together, the exhibits and nature journals create a completely immersive learning experience that encourages students to become observers, investigators, storytellers, and stewards of Alaska. You can pick up a classroom set of nature journals at the visitor center’s front desk!
Nature Journals
During your visit, the center offers students a natural journal to guide their experience around the exhibits. Students explore the center's exhibits using their senses, learn about Alaska's cultures, and discover public lands. It's more than just a nature journal—it's an opportunity for students to explore, connect, and discover their values as stewards of public lands.
Overview: Alaska’s public lands are great places to go on adventures! There are so many different things to see, hear, eat, and do. The experience nature journal encourages students to go on an adventure through our visitor center exhibits, use their senses, and record what they encounter.
Program Time: 20-40 minutes
Overview: Alaska’s public lands are full of great stories! The lives of Alaska's residents, visitors, and local wildlife inspire many great stories. This nature journal explores our Anchorage Alaska Public Lands Information Center’s exhibits, featuring three activities that ask students to create their own Alaska-themed adventure.
Program Time: 20-40 minutes
Overview: Alaska's public lands are places of discovery! Not only can you discover different plants, animals, and cultures, but you can also discover more about yourself and your own role in Alaska's public lands. Embark on a mission of self-discovery as you explore our visitor center. The Discovery Nature Journal includes topics such as the salmon life cycle, Alaska trip planning, and the discovery of personal cultural connections to food, stories, and objects.
Program Time: 20-40 minutes
Overview: Students will explore and engage with the visitor center exhibits. The Values Nature Journal activity booklet encourages students to experience the wonder of Alaska’s vastly diverse public lands and to discover their values as owners of these lands.
Program Time: 20-40 minutes
Alaska State Education Standards and Exhibits
Click the sections below to explore resources available, and the specific state standards that can be addressed on your journey around the exhibit hall.
AH. PPE 1 Comparing and contrasting geographic regions of Alaska. [DOK 2] (G. B4, B8)
AH. ICGP 11 exploring federal policies and legislation (e.g., Alaska Citizenship Act, Tlingit- Haida Jurisdictional Act, Indian Citizenship Act of 1924, Alaska Reorganization Act, ANCSA) that recognized Native rights. [DOK 1] (H. B2)
AH. PPE 7 using texts/ sources to explain the political, social, cultural, economic, geographic, and historic characteristics of the student’s community or region. [DOK 3] (H. B1b, C. E2, E8)
AH. ICGP 3 explaining and analyzing tribal and western concepts of land ownership and how acting upon those concepts contributes to changes in land use, control, and ownership (e.g., ANCSA, ANILCA). [DOK 4] (H. C7, C8)
AH. CC 7 comparing and contrasting the perspectives of sport, commercial, and subsistence users on policies regarding fish and game management. [DOK 2] (G. E4, F5)
K-LS1-1. Use observations to describe patterns of what plants and animals (including humans) need to survive.
2-LS4-1.Make observations of plants and animals to compare the diversity of life in different habitats.
3-LS4-3. Construct an argument with evidence that in a particular habitat some organisms can survive well, some survive less well, and some cannot survive at all.
5-LS2-1. Develop and describe a model that describes the movement of matter among plants, animals, decomposers, and the environment.
MS-LS2-2. Construct an explanation that predicts patterns of interactions among organisms across multiple ecosystems.
HS-LS2-6. Evaluate claims, evidence, and reasoning that the complex interactions in ecosystems maintain relatively consistent numbers and types of organisms in stable conditions, but changing conditions may result in a new ecosystem.
B. 1. acquire insights from other cultures without diminishing the integrity of their own.
D. 4. gather oral and written history information from the local community and provide an appropriate interpretation of its cultural meaning and significance.
E. 2. understand the ecology and geography of the bioregion they inhabit.
E. 7. determine how cultural values and beliefs influence the interaction of people from different cultural backgrounds.
Request a Field Trip to the Anchorage Alaska Public Lands Information Center
To request a class field trip to the Center, please enter the required information in the sections below. Be sure to specify which exhibit you would like to include during your students' visit. Explore the center's ranger-led field trips for more information on a guided tour around the exhibits. For more information and questions, contact the centers education team or call (907) 644-3661.
NPS Form 10-1750 (Rev. 04/2021) National Park Service
OMB Control No. 1024-0228 Expiration Date 11/31/2025
Notices
Privacy Act Statement
Authority: Public Law 114-289 National Park Service Centennial Act and 54 U.S.C. 100701 Protection, interpretation, and research in System.
Purpose: To administer education programs for education audiences including but not limited to school groups, scouting groups, extracurricular groups, and home school groups.
Routine Uses: To effectively manage requests for education received by the NPS, the Education Reservation Request Form is used to collect basic education reservation information to facilitate operational aspects of scheduling groups for park education programs, including in-park education programs, ranger in classroom programs, and/or online distance learning programs.
Disclosure: Voluntary, however, failure to provide the requested information may impede the ability to grant your education reservation request.
Paperwork Reduction Act Statement
We are collecting this information subject to the Paperwork Reduction Act (44 U.S.C. 3501) to provide park managers and educators the information needed to schedule and conduct education program activities. All applicable parts of the form must be completed in order for your request to be considered. You are not required to respond to this or any other Federal agency-sponsored information collection unless it displays a currently valid OMB control number. OMB has approved this collection of information and assigned control number 1024-0288.
Estimated Burden Statement
Public reporting for this collection of information is estimated to average 5 minutes per response, including the time for reviewing instructions, searching existing data sources, gathering and maintaining the data needed, and completing and reviewing the collection of information. Send comments regarding this burden estimate or any other aspect of this collection of information, including suggestions for reducing this burden, to the Information Collection Clearance Officer, National Park Service, 1201 Oakridge Drive, Fort Collins, CO 80525. Do not send your completed form to this address.
