Energy and Ecosystems features ecosystem services, engineering components, and field studies where students take scientific data. This field trip provides students with authentic experiences using scientific practices and crosscutting concepts from the Next Generation Science Standards and Common Core Language Arts and Math.

Teachers may bring students to Fermilab for free field trips as often as one desires. Students make observations and gather data that provide vital information to help Fermilab's ongoing prairie restoration project. They obtain and communicate information about the similarities and differences of prairie, water and woodland ecosystems. Request a field trip.

To fully prepare your students for a physical science or life science visit, you must participate in either a two-hour training session or a summer Teacher Workshop. These will give you all the information and resources to implement engaging preparatory activities in the classroom that introduce the essential concepts, content, and logistics of the field trip. Your participation will allow your students to learn more about the research and ecology of Fermilab and to better appreciate their on-site experience.

Two-hour Field Trip Essentials sessions:

• Registration required three weeks prior.
  Location: Lederman Science Center
  Time: 4-6 p.m., with a 10-minute break
  Fee: Free of charge
  You must have a REAL ID-compliant document, such as an enhanced driver's license or passport, to enter Fermilab. Visit get-connected.fnal.gov/real-id-at-fermilab for more information.

• Energy and Ecosystems: Prairie, Water, and Woods (Life Science grades 6–9)
  • April 17 registration

Three ecosystems in one workshop: prairie, water and woods. Investigate the dynamics of nature including energy cycles, resilience and biodiversity to reveal interdependent relationships among organisms within prairie, water and woodland ecosystems. Learn biological principles and how to use standard ecological measurement techniques to teach students to investigate, assess and compare these different habitats. If you have already attended an Energy and Ecosystems workshop, you can still attend and get credit for this new workshop.