Discovery Labs
Discovery Labs are an immersive, hands-on experience for your classroom. These programs bring the excitement of science directly to your students through grade-specific, curriculum-connected programs led by North Carolina Zoo educators. Each lab is designed to spark curiosity, deepen conservation awareness, practice STEM skills, and give students a meaningful and memorable learning experience, whether at the North Carolina Zoo or in your school.
How can I purchase a Discovery Lab Program?
To purchase a Discovery Lab Program, visit our eTix ticketing site to view availability and purchase your program and provide additional details. (Insert Link here) Unfortunately, we are not able to reserve dates for school groups and the educational programs are first come first served. You can however reach out to schoolprograms@nczoo.org to see if a date has additional availability if it says sold out or unavailable, as we do have some additional availability not listed on the eTix site. Program bookings are not confirmed until you receive an email confirmation letter from a member of the North Carolina Zoo Education Team containing your program details.
What Discovery Labs do you currently offer for Grades K-8?
| Program Name | Recommended Grade(s) | Standards | Length
| Program Overview |
| Animal Toolbox | K | NCSCOS: LS.K.1.1 LS.K.1.2
NGSS: 1-LS1-1 | 60 mins | Animal Toolbox brings to life the idea that every part of an animal's body has a purpose. Through movement, storytelling, hands-on exploration, and a simple engineering challenge, students discover how animals use their body parts to find food, stay safe, and get around, and how humans have borrowed ideas from nature to solve our own problems. |
| Animal Wrappers | 1st
| NCSCOS: LS1.1.1 ESS1.3.2
NGSS: 1-LS1 | 60 mins | Animal Wrappers introduces students to the idea that animals have special "wrappers", like fur, scales, blubber, and feathers, that help them survive in their home environments. Through a reading time and hands-on activities, students explore how animals in different habitats (arctic, desert, and forest) are uniquely equipped to handle their surroundings. Each of the activities in this program, help students make connections between an animal's traits, where it lives, and how humans mimic these animals to help us survive. |
| Eggs to Legs | 2nd | NCSCOS: LS.2.1.1 LS.2.1.2
NGSS: 3-LS1-1 | 60 mins | Eggs to Legs engages students with the life cycles of animals and the challenges they face at each stage of growth. Through storytelling, movement activities, and games, students compare how different animals, such as reptiles, insects, and amphibians, develop from eggs into adults. The program also highlights the Zoo's Head Start program, which helps give native amphibians like the Carolina Gopher Frog a better chance at survival in the wild. Students wrap up by reviewing the various life cycle stages for the animals they've learned about, reinforcing key concepts and building real-world connections. |
| Pollinator Pathways | 3rd | NCSCOS: LS.3.2.1
NGSS: 2-LS2-2 5-LS2-1 3-5-ETS-1-3 | 90 mins | Pollinator Pathways highlights the relationship between plants and pollinators through a hands-on coding activity. Students explore how pollinators like bees travel between flowers to help plants reproduce, then use Bee-Bots to program a path that mimics a pollinator's journey from flower to flower. This program blends life science concepts with an introduction to engineering and design, helping students understand the vital role pollinators play in ecosystems while building early coding and problem-solving skills. |
| Amazing Adaptations | 4th | NCSCOS: LS.4.1.1 LS.4.1.2 ESS.4.3.1 ESS.4.3.2
NGSS: 4-LS1-1 | 90 mins | Amazing Adaptations introduces 4th graders to the physical and behavioral adaptations that help animals survive in their environments. Students rotate through stations representing different animal groups, exploring how each is uniquely suited to its habitat. Through inquiry and hands-on activities, this program connects these animal adaptations to real-world conservation, helping students understand how human actions can support animals facing rapid environmental change. |
| Organism Organization | 5th | NCSCOS: LS.5.1.1 LS.5.1.2
NGSS: MS-LS1-3 | 90 mins | Organism Organization invites 5th graders to discover what a polar bear, a snake, and a human all have in common, the same basic levels of organization, from cells to tissues to organs to systems. Through hands-on stations students compare major body systems (digestive, respiratory, circulatory, skeletal, muscular, and nervous) across humans and animals like rhinos, snakes, giraffes, turtles, and salamanders, using biofacts and interactive demonstrations to explore how each system is uniquely adapted to an animal's lifestyle. Along the way, students see how North Carolina Zoo veterinarians and animal care staff apply this knowledge of body systems to provide expert care for animals both at the Zoo and in the wild. |
| Carolina’s Coolest | 6th | NCSCOS: LS.6.2.1 LS.6.2.2 ESS.6.3.2
NGSS: MS-LS2-3 | 90 mins | Carolina's Coolest introduces students to the diverse ecosystems found across North Carolina, from forests and grasslands to rivers and coastlines. Through hands-on activities, students explore the difference between abiotic and biotic factors, build a food web to see how energy flows through an ecosystem, and discover how the removal of just one species can create a ripple effect throughout an entire habitat. The program highlights the American Red Wolf as a case study in conservation, showing how this NC native species has twice come close to extinction and what's being done to protect it. Students wrap up by building their own food chains for different NC biomes, reinforcing key concepts in energy transfer while reflecting on their role in wildlife stewardship. |
| Wild Genetics | 7th | NCSCOS: LS.7.2.1 LS.7.2.2
NGSS: MS-LS4-4 | 90 mins | Wild Genetics brings students into the role of wildlife geneticists and conservation scientists, using the American Red Wolf as a case study in genetic diversity and species survival. Through interactive activities highlighting genetics and traits, food web game showing the ripple effects of losing a keystone predator, and a visualized timeline of the Red Wolf's near-extinction, students explore how genetic diversity strengthens populations and how ecosystems depend on balance. The program highlights how the North Carolina Zoo and other institutions use managed breeding programs to help rebuild Red Wolf populations and allows students to see conservation science in action. |
| Nothing Goes to Waste | 8th | NCSCOS: LS.8.2.1 LS.8.2.2 LS.8.2.3 LS.8.2.4
NGSS: MS-LS2-3 MS-LS2-4 | 90 mins | Nature's most misunderstood animals may also be its most essential. Nothing Goes to Waste invites 8th graders to take a closer look at quickly judged animals to discover the critical role they play in keeping ecosystems healthy. Through food web modeling, population data analysis, and matter cycling investigations, students explore how the presence or absence of scavengers and other decomposers creates ripple effects throughout entire ecosystems. The program connects the North Carolina Zoo's conservation work locally and globally, helping students see how ecosystem science, and their own choices, reach far beyond their backyard. |
| Zoo Jobs | 3rd – 8th | - | 90 mins | Students explore how science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) are used every day by professionals at the North Carolina Zoo. Through interactive discussion, observation of animal ambassadors, and real-world problem solving, students learn how careers such as zookeeper, veterinarian, animal behaviorist, conservation biologist, and horticulturist help care for animals and protect wildlife. This program emphasizes scientific thinking, data collection, and conservation action in an engaging, age-appropriate, informal learning setting. |
| Field Expeditions | 5th – 8th | NCSCOS: ESS.6.3.1 ESS.6.3.2
NGSS: 5-ESS2-1 MS-ESS3-1
| 2 hrs. | Field Expeditions takes students out of the classroom and into the field for a two-hour guided hike alongside North Carolina Zoo conservation staff. Along the way, students participate in an interactive lesson connected to soil or water ecology, exploring how these resources shape habitats and support life in the natural world. This program combines outdoor exploration with curriculum-connected science, giving students a firsthand look at the ecosystems they're learning about and the conservation work happening to protect them. |
What Discovery Labs do you currently offer for Grades 9-12?
| Program Name | Course Alignment | Length
| Program Overview |
Diagnosis Detectives
| Animal Science I & II
Biology
General Science
Veterinary Assist | 90 mins
| |
| Engineering Ecocystems | STEM
Animal Science I & II
Natural Resources I & II
Engineering
Biology
Earth & Environmental | 90 mins | |
| Habitat Shifters: For Better or For Worse | Animal Science I & II
Biology
Earth & Environmental
Foundations of Agriculture
Horticulture I & II
Natural Resources I & II
Sustainable Agriculture
Zoology | 90 mins | What makes an invasive species? Animals and plants have often been used as habitat shifters, for better or for worse. Through facilitated debate, close encounters with animal ambassadors, and conservation storytelling, students will come to a personal opinion about invasive species and arm themselves with tools on identifying invasive species even in their backyard. |
| Herpetology Habits, Habitats, and Headstarting | Animal Science I & II Zoology
Biology
Earth & Environmental
Animal Behavior | 90 mins | Herpetology includes reptiles and amphibians and are the subject of our Head Start conservation programs! Learn about specific species through our animal ambassadors and leave the program with a Toad Abode to take back to the school and increase healthy habitats for native herps!
|
Pedigree Practice: Conservation focused Selective Breeding
| Animal Science I & II
Biology
Earth & Environmental
Genetics | 90 mins
| |
| Physics in Physiology | Zoology
Animal Behavior
Animal Science I & II
Biology
Physics | 90 mins
| Through observations of animal ambassador behavior, students will analyze the physics behind the biological mechanisms of their movement and participate in an engineering challenge to put those observations to use solving real world problems. |
| Prehistoric to Present | Animal Science I & II
Zoology
Biology
Earth & Environmental
Animal Behavior | 2 hrs
| In this educational program about archaeopteryx, the difference between birds and reptiles will be debated. Following the discussion, students will witness reptile behavior up close and participate in a birding hike to contribute to international scientific data collection. |
| Resistance isn’t Futile: Antibiotic Resistance in Soil | Agriculture
Horticulture
Natural Resources
Sustainable Agriculture
Biomedical Technology
Health Science I & II
Earth & Environmental
Biology | 2 hrs
| |
| Respect it, Test it, Protect it | Natural Resources I & II
Earth & Environmental
Biology
Chemistry | 90 mins | Dip your toes into the native waters of the Zoo! Together we will sample the water for macroinvertebrates, do some basic chemical testing, and participate in a species spotlight of a bioindicator that helps determine the quality of water in their habitat. |
| Symbiosis Between Species | Animal Science I & II
Life Science
Biology
Earth & Environmental | 90 mins
|
Who are these programs for?
Small group programs for K-12th grade students, with a maximum of 30 students per program.
How long do these programs last?
Each program runs approximately 1.5–2 hours.
Will there be live animals?
Many programs feature live Animal Ambassadors. Live animals cannot be guaranteed due to feeding schedules, vet visits, weather, etc... However, we can guarantee a hands-on experience through activities and animal biofacts!
What price will the program be?
Discovery Lab Class Programs are $150 per program for on-site at the North Carolina Zoo. Off-site Discovery Labs in your classrooms are $300 per program.
- We are piloting a new payment format that allows you to either pay for your program at the time of booking or pay anytime within 30 days after your initial reservation. When purchasing your program, you will see a section titled “Ticket Payment Options.”
- If you are ready to pay immediately, select “Pay in 1 payment.
- If you want to reserve your date now and pay anytime within 30 days, select “Split into 1 payment”.
- If you choose the “Split into 1 payment” option to pay later:
- You will be prompted to enter card information to hold your reservation.
- You may change the payment method later if needed.
- We are not able to offer refunds or exchanges
- You will receive additional instructions on how to access the Pay Later feature in your account.
Questions? Contact us at schoolprograms@nczoo.org.
Are there discounts available?
Yes! Please contact schoolprograms@nczoo.org to see if you qualify for our Tier 1 County or Title 1 School discounts.
How early can I begin booking?
Program booking for the 2026-2027 school year begins July 1st. We require at least 1 month advance booking for our Discovery Lab Classroom Programs.
Can you sign a contract with my county/school/group?
Unfortunately, we are not able to sign any contracts or agreements. Please reach out to schoolprograms@nczoo.org to determine if there are other options for you.
Can the North Carolina Zoo participate in career fairs at my school?
Due to the high volume of requests for career day events and other educational programs, our educational staff are not able to attend every career fair invitation. We truly appreciate your interest in having the North Carolina Zoo participate. To help meet this growing demand, we have developed a 1.5 hour "Zoo Jobs" Discovery Lab program that introduces students to the many science and conservation careers that support the North Carolina Zoo and utilize STEM every day. If you have questions or would like additional information, please contact us at schoolprograms@nczoo.org.