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Left image
Students enjoying ice fishing on a frozen lake during a ranger-led program.
Credit: NPS/ANCH
Right image
Students hiking through a grassy trail in Anchorage, Alaska
Credit: NPS/ANCH
Bring Alaska’s public lands to life with free hands-on resources, virtual visits, education kits, workshops, ranger-led field trips, and more!
Whether you're planning a class visit to the Anchorage Alaska Public Lands Information Center or looking for materials to enrich your classroom lessons, the center’s free curriculum-based resources are designed to support your existing teaching goals. Explore the sections below to discover educational resources available for Anchorage and surrounding-community schools and families. To schedule a field trip for your class, please complete the reservation request form below.
Teacher Resources
Click the sections below to discover teacher resources provided by the center
Is your class ready to experience the wonder of Alaska's Public Lands?
Consider a class field trip to the center to discover, explore, and create a true experiential learning environment through ranger talks, park films, interactive activities, and and educational exhibits!
How to reserve a Field Trip: To schedule a field trip, please complete the request form at the bottom of this page. For questions or additional information, contact the center's education team or call (907) 644-3661.
Transportation: Many teachers travel to the center with their students by school bus, cars, or on foot! The center may be able to offer transportation assistance for qualifying schools; contact our education team for details. Please coordinate busing through your school or district administration prior to your visit.
What to Expect During Your Fun Field Trip:The Center offers a 2-hour field trip providing an interactive learning experience focused on Alaska's public lands.
Arrival & Introduction (30 Minutes): Upon arriving at the center, a National Park Service ranger will greet your class and lead an engaging 20-30 minute introductory talk about public lands in Alaska. This introduction is presented in an informative and fun manner, designed for active student participation in the learning process.
Field Trip Itinerary (90 Minutes): The remainder of your visit is split into two activities:
Park Film: Watch Alaska’s Coolest Animals, a 30-minute film highlighting local wildlife. If you prefer a different park film that is listed in the "View a Film" section below, the center is happy to present your chosen film.
Exhibit Scavenger Hunt: Students explore the main exhibit hall using grade-appropriate scavenger hunts! The center has four levels of scavenger hunts that range from pre-k and up. The "Explore the Exhibits" drop down section below includes descriptions of the offered scavenger hunts.
Wrap-Up & Student Takeaway: Each student concludes their field trip with a completed scavenger hunt, a special National Park prize, and a clear understanding of public lands in Alaska!
Additional Information
Lunch Break (Optional / 30 Minutes): Groups are welcome to bring packed lunches to enjoy in the classroom space during your visit. Please inform our education team when reserving your trip so we can accommodate your schedule.
Large Group Visits: To ensure a high-quality experience, larger groups of 30 or more students and multi-class visits are divided into smaller subgroups. Students rotate between the exhibit scavenger hunt and the film presentation to keep group sizes manageable.
Customizing your class visit: If you are interested in a specific topic for your class field trip, like gold mining history, World War II history, or Alaskan wildlife; Park Rangers can customize the trip's itinerary to meet your class's educational goals.
We hope to see you and your class soon at the Alaska Public Lands Information Center!
Park Rangers can bring the Anchorage Alaska Public Lands Information Center to your classroom!
Park rangers are excited to bring the visitor center directly to you! If your school has video conferencing equipment, your class has the opportunity to experience LIVE, interactive visits with a park ranger.
During the program, students will interact with the ranger by asking and answering questions. Park rangers present a virtual walkthrough of the exhibit hall showcasing natural, historical, and cultural features throughout the state. Wandering among the exhibits, viewers will receive a mini-tour of Alaska. Students will learn about recreation on public lands, as well as discover materials that educators can use in their classrooms. These ranger-led virtual programs are appropriate for grades K-12. The programs are free and are a great way to introduce your students to the amazing visitor center and the vast state of Alaska.
Learning Objectives: After experiencing a virtual visit, students will be able to list six different Alaskan animals and identify their ecosystems of forest, tundra, and marine environments.
Program Duration: The virtual ranger presentation is estimated to take 30-45 minutes.
Required Equipment for a Virtual Visit: Our distance learning programs can be scheduled using various software platforms, often matching what teachers already use in their classrooms. If Zoom is the preferred method, it must be initiated by the teacher through their subscription, and an invitation sent to park staff presenters. Another option is to use WebEx with a separate phone line for audio
Scheduling & Registration: All classes are free, and requests are processed in the order in which they are received. Our programs are offered year-round; however, summer offerings may be limited. To register or ask questions, contact the Center's education team or call (907) 644-3661.
Bring your students beyond the classroom and into an immersive learning experience where Alaska's people, places, and stories come alive.
The exhibits at the Anchorage Alaska Public Lands Information Center provide many opportunities to meet Alaska State education standards for your class. Whether you are studying science, history, or culture, there is something to encourage learning around every corner. Check out our exhibit descriptions as well as the list of state standards that can be addressed by each exhibit space.
Resources to Support Your Visit
During your visit, the center offers students a three-page interactive scavenger hunt around the exhibits designed to make learning fun, interactive, and hands-on. Students explore the center's exhibits using their senses, learn about Alaska's cultures, and discover public lands. It's more than just a scavenger hunt—it's an opportunity for students to explore, connect, and discover their values as stewards of public lands.
Ages 7 & Under: My Alaska Public Lands Experience Nature Journal
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
Ages 8-11: My Alaska Public Lands Exploration Nature Journal
Overview: Alaska’s public lands are full of great stories! Whether we visit, live here, or are an animal in Alaska, we all have a great story to tell. We can learn a lot about Alaska’s public lands as we write our own stories and listen to one another's. 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
Ages 12-14: My Alaska Public Lands Discovery Nature Journal
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
Ages 14 and up: My Alaska Public Lands Values Nature Journal
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
Enhance your field trip or classroom curriculum with an educational film at the Anchorage Alaska Public Lands Information Center.
Review the listings below to select content aligned with your students' learning objectives. Higher grade recommendations contain more complex historical and cultural themes. To request a film screening, please complete the education reservation request form below.
Alaska's Coolest Animals
Description: Narrated by a young boy, this charming film provides spectacularly fun footage of some of Alaska's coolest wildlife! This Emmy Award-winning film is suitable for all.
Motion Picture Association Film Age Rating: Rated G
Description: From the ruggedness of North America's tallest peak to the delicate ecosystem in the low-lying tundra, this film explores one of America's most wild landscapes through all four seasons.
Grade: Kindergarten-12th Grade
Film Time: 18 minutes
The Bears and Volcanoes of Katmai
Description: Explore the extreme remoteness of Katmai National Park, while observing the greatest population of brown bears in the world!
Grade: Kindergarten-12th Grade
Film Time: 28 minutes
Where Ice and Oceans Meet: Kenai Fjords National Park
Description: Where Ice and Ocean Meet introduces the dynamic world of Kenai Fjords National Park, a landscape sculpted by ice. The film explores the richness of the fjords' wildlife, from black oystercatchers to sea otters, black bears, and massive humpback whales.
Description: This film introduces Sitka, a small town in SE Alaska, through the perspectives of several people who call it home. The film has firsthand interviews with Tlingit, Russian Orthodox, and Americans of European descent.
Description: This high-definition documentary explores the history and adventure of the Klondike Gold Rush.
Grade: 8th Grade-12th Grade
Film Time: 22 minutes
Alaska's Wild Legacy
Description: Join former President Jimmy Carter, former Alaska Governor Jay Hammond, and others as they discuss the unique history of public lands in Alaska.
Grade: 7th Grade-12th Grade
Film Time: 15 minutes
The Day the Earth Shook
Description: Filled with survival testimonials and historical footage, this gripping film recounts Alaska's 1964 Good Friday earthquake, the largest earthquake ever recorded in North America.
Grade: 9th Grade-12th Grade
Film Time: 26 minutes
The Anchorage Alaska Public Lands Information Center offers in-person professional development for teachers around the State!
The teacher workshops provided by the center focus's on how educators can leverage National Park Service lesson plans and resources to support their teaching. Participants will take part in activities and lesson plans that they can implement in their classroom. To learn more about teacher workshops held at the Anchorage Alaska Public Lands Information Center, please visit the teacher workshops page. If you have any questions, contact the centers education team or call (907) 644-3661.
Discover hands-on learning and bring Alaska's natural and cultural stories to life in your classroom with the center's free education loan kits.
The Anchorage Alaska Public Lands Information Center loans out materials to support teachers in their classrooms. The center's education library consists of books, lesson plans, and educational kits. Kits are typically borrowed for two weeks, but extensions are available upon request. Long-distance loaning of kits can be modified for shipping if need be or is requested.
For more information about educational kits available and descriptions, please visit the Alaska public lands education kit webpage or contact the center's education team.
Educational Kits:
Wildlife:
Marine Mammals Kit
Wolf Kit
Bat Kit
Bear Kit
Bear and Moose Awareness Kit
Skulls of Alaskan Mammals Kit
Animal Scent Kit
Track Kit
Birds:
Loon Kit
Owl Pellet Kit
Bird Beak Adaptation Kit
Black Oystercatcher Kit
Songbird Blues Kit
Fish & Marine Life:
Alaska Fish Kit
Gyotaku (Fish Printing) Kit
Marine Mammals Kit
Earth, Ecology & Outdoor Exploration:
Fire in Alaska Kit
Climate Change Kit
Leave No Trace (LNT) Kit
Permafrost Kit
Minerals Kit
Earthquake/Seismology Kit
Volcano Activity Kit
Dinosaur Kit
Compass Kit
Stereoscope Kit (KLGO)
Alaska History, Culture & Society:
Great Alaskan Mystery Box
Russian History Kit
Stampeder Kit (Gold Rush)
WWII/ Iditarod Trail Kit
Mathematics in Basketry Kit
Constitution Kit
Classroom Puppet Show Kit
Park Jobs Kit
Alaska Education Resources and Materials
The center offers educational material kits designed without a fixed curriculum, allowing educators flexibility to introduce tangible, hands-on items in any learning setting.
Bear Capes: 1 black bear cape and 1 brown bear cape
Bear Pelts: 2 black bear pelts and 1 brown bear pelt
Various Furs: Wolf, coyote, muskrat, and mink
Mukluk Snowboot Artifacts: Handmade traditional mukluk snowboots
Alaskan Book Collection: Dozens of books pertaining to Alaskan topics
Additional Resources: Many more books, biofacts, and hands-on teaching tools are available upon request. Contact the center's education team to inquire about specific items or topics.
Request a Field Trip to the Anchorage Public Lands Information Center
To request a student field trip to the Anchorage Alaska Public Lands Information Center, please enter the required information in the sections below. 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.
