Evening for Educators: Sharks
Programs
January 24, 2024 5:00pm - 8:00pm
Join us for a FREE open house exclusively for teachers.
Event Details
Experience the Bullock Museum — the biggest classroom in Texas — through special exhibition tours and hands-on activities. Designed for teachers of all grade levels and subjects, this free open house event will connect teachers to classroom resources, teaching strategies, and local community organizations.
Come face to face with sharks, the ocean's most magnificent and misunderstood species. Explore the special exhibition Sharks, from the American Museum of Natural History, to discover what makes sharks such complex and unique creatures.
Enjoy prize drawings, refreshments, and the company of fellow teachers and receive an SBEC-approved CPE certificate.
Scheduled Events
5 to 6:30 p.m. Refreshments in the Grand Lobby.
5:30 to 5:40 p.m. Shark Hunt Group Activity: Experience a lively game about the food chain and the role apex predators play in keeping ecosystems in balance.
5:45 to 6:15 p.m. & 6:30 to 7 p.m. Shark Pop Art Class: Join Giddyup Art Studio to learn about three Texas sharks on our threatened species list, then try an engaging pop art technique to create a shark art piece.
7:15 p.m. Film Screening: Pick up some popcorn and preview the documentary film Great White Shark in the Texas Spirit Theater
Featured Activities
5 to 8 p.m. Explore the exhibitions and be sure to try your hand at these activities:
- Exhibit Exploration: Learn about evolutionary adaptations, see the prehistoric mega-predator megalodon, hunt like a hammerhead shark, and discover how scientists identify sharks in fun interactive activities throughout the Sharks special exhibition.
- Texas Parks and Wildlife Department: Connect with an interpreter from Sea Center Texas to learn about shark jaws, adaptations, and the hatchery.
- Texas Science and Natural History Museum: Explore some specimens and get acquainted with the newly reopened museum.
- Shark Acrostic: Craft an acrostic poem about one of three sharks that can be found off the coast of Texas.
- Art Walk: Compare art from around the world and from across time related to sharks and how humans have portrayed them.
- Shark Bestie: Using a National Geographic lesson guide, discover what shark you are most like based on their behavioral traits.
- Shark Tooth Adaptations: Discover how different sharks’ teeth have adapted over time to make them effective hunters with a hands-on demonstration.
- Just Keep Swimming: Explore how sharks' buoyant and flexible bodies are uniquely adapted to swimming in many different depths of water.
- Sizing Up - Measuring and Graphing Shark Lengths: Put your math and graphing skills to the test by measuring and charting the lengths of different sharks on a giant graph.
- Explore updated areas of the Texas History Galleries with new artifacts and stories on display.
7:45 p.m. Prize Drawing
The event is free of charge, and parking is complimentary in the Museum’s garage.
Stay tuned for a more detailed schedule. Questions? Contact (512) 936-4604 or education@thestoryoftexas.com
Sharks brings to life the incredible diversity of sharks with dozens of life-sized models, ranging from 33 feet to 5 inches long, and offers visitors a unique look at prehistoric and modern species, their habitats and hunting styles, and the conservation threats these spectacular animals face today. The evolutionary history of sharks is extraordinarily long, predating even dinosaurs. Today, more than 540 species of sharks and over 670 species of their close relatives — rays, skates, and chimaeras — inhabit nearly all the world’s marine environments, from coral reefs to the polar seas, and even freshwater rivers.
This exhibition is bilingual in English and Spanish.
Great White Shark takes you on a breathtaking encounter to explore the great white’s place in our imaginations, in our fears, and at the top of the oceanic food chain. The film highlights shark aggregation areas in Mexico, South Africa, Los Angeles and New Zealand and spotlights key figures in the history of shark research. Don’t miss this up-close exploration of one of the earth’s most incredible creatures.
Your Support Matters
Help us continue to share the story of Texas through free programs with a tax-deductible donation.
Enjoy discounts, exclusive programs, and free access to exhibitions year-round by becoming a member of the Bullock Museum.
School Programs are generously funded by Featured sponsor The Marie M. and James H. Galloway Foundation, Supporting sponsor The Lange Family Foundation, and Contributing sponsors Bella and Chase Cooley, Dian Graves Owen Foundation, and Roger and Marianne Staubach.
Sharks is organized by the American Museum of Natural History, New York. The Museum gratefully acknowledges Warner Bros. Discovery for its generous support of Sharks. A selection of footage in Sharks has been provided by Discovery's Shark Week.
The Bullock Museum, a division of the Texas State Preservation Board, is funded by Museum members, donors, and patrons, the Texas State History Museum Foundation, and the State of Texas.
