Nevada State Museum offers terrific experience for CCSD students

Sarah Flores, a learning strategist at Wing and Lilly Fong Elementary School in the Clark County School District, has always looked for ways for her students to explore Nevada history as part of their social studies curriculum.

Flores says that for the last two years she was able to arrange field trips for her whole fourth-grade level to the Nevada State Museum, Las Vegas – a state-of-the-art facility located at the Springs Preserve that the Nevada Division of Museums and History operates.

“It was a terrific experience both years, and my students learned a lot about Nevada history,” Flores says of the museum, which opened in 2011.

Educational field trips are a time-honored part of learning, and the CCSD School-Community Partnership Program’s longstanding collaboration with the Nevada State Museum, Las Vegas is paying dividends for Flores’ students and thousands of other CCSD students every year.

Peter Barton, administrator of the Nevada Division of Museums and History, says the Nevada State Museum in Las Vegas “serves as an incubator for creating, nurturing, and celebrating identity while teaching critical skills that go far above and beyond just history education.”

Barton adds that the “museum is adjunct to the classroom, a place where abstract textbook concepts become real in immersive and interactive environments that also support STEAM learning.”

Last school year, students from 160 classes at 46 schools in CCSD visited the Nevada State Museum, Las Vegas. The Nevada Division of Museums and History also runs two other museums in Southern Nevada where CCSD students attend field trips: Nevada State Railroad Museum in Boulder City and the Lost City Museum in Overton.

Field trips correlate to Nevada Academic Content Standards and there is no admission cost for students. Experiences can be adjusted for any grade level, Kindergarten through 12th grade, but most of the museum’s student visitors are in the fourth grade, because Nevada history is primarily taught in that grade.

Stacy Irvin, curator of education at Nevada State Museum, Las Vegas, notes that fourth graders will discover myriad artifacts and content on a visit, including being able to:

• Peer inside a pioneer wagon and imagine what it would have been like to go on a months-long journey to a new life
• See some of the tools used by the settlers who established homes in Nevada in the 1800s
• Stand inside a replica of the famous mines of Virginia City and view artifacts from Nevada’s many mining towns
• Learn about the role the railroad played in settling Nevada

While there is no entry fee for students on classroom field trips, schools must provide transportation to get children to the museum, and that cost can be a hindrance. But in 2017, the Nevada Legislature allocated funds to the Nevada Division of Museums and History to reimburse bus transportation for school field trips to state museums.

This reimbursement for transportation, which is on a first-come, first-served basis, totals $250,000 biennially statewide for schools. The funding has made a dramatic difference by allowing more students to experience Nevada State Museum, Las Vegas.

The number of students visiting the museum has almost doubled since the transportation reimbursement: Last year, nearly 5,000 students visited Nevada State Museum, Las Vegas. CCSD used approximately $20,000 in available state funding last year to provide transportation for school field trips to Nevada State Museum, Las Vegas.

In 2019, the Nevada Legislature renewed this funding for an additional two years, ensuring that even more students will experience state museums in Southern Nevada.

In addition to the dedicated education staff of Nevada State Museum, Las Vegas, which works diligently to schedule and facilitate the academically sound experiences, the nonprofit organization Friends of Nevada State Museum, Las Vegas has been providing support to encourage visits to this gem in our community.

Prior to the Legislature provision for transportation funding, Friends of Nevada State Museum, Las Vegas provided some of this funding. With the legislative funding in place, the nonprofit group began focusing on families. For instance, along with offering special family educational and fun events last year, Friends of Nevada State Museum, Las Vegas provided annual passes to the museum for 50 families whose students attend nearby Title I schools.

Friends of Nevada State Museum, Las Vegas will continue this family engagement during the 2019-2020 by providing passes and be a site for one of CCSD’s Family and Community Engagement Services family events. Field experiences and family engagement both provide support to CCSD’s Focus: 2024 strategic plan by supporting increased academic achievement, attendance and family engagement.

Students are engaged and inspired by their visits to the museum. “There is just something about an authentic artifact that helps students connect to a topic in a personal way and gets them excited to learn more,” Irvin says. “A visit to the museum builds an enthusiasm for learning that the students take back to the classroom with them.”

If you would like to partner with CCSD or expand your existing partnership, contact the School-Community Partnership Program at 702-799-6560.