Today we will take a virtual field trip to the Virginia Museum of Natural History (VMNH) in Martinsville, Virginia.  The VMNH is a wonderful museum and research center housing over 21 million specimens.  It has grown tremedously over the past five years with specimens not only donated but also discovered by members of the VMNH team of scientists.  Included in this virtual trip is a tentative schedule for the day  and directions to the museum in case you would like to visit the museum with a group of your own.  The outline of this particular field trip is designed for ninth grade Earth Science students.  However, it could easily be altered to benefit the younger or older student.

The purpose of this field trip is to familiarize students with the extensive natural and geologic history of Virginia.  Virginia Earth Science students will find this trip especially useful as the exhibits are correlated with the Virginia Standards of Learning (SOL's).  The museum is an educational experience regardless of the time of year, however, Earth Science teachers may want to coordinate their visit with the museum's schedule of exhibits as to assure an Earth Science related exhibit on display.  Highlights of the field trip include a fantastic dinosaur exhbit with fossils, tracks, and displays; beautiful exhbits of igneous, metamorphic, and sedimentary rocks found in Virginia; an interactive Geologic Map of Virginia explaining the five provinces and rock tops found at each; fossil displays including the Virginia State fossil Chesapecten jeffersonius and "fern rock" illustrating the geologically economic importance of the state; and an Age of Mammals exhibit illustrating historic animals such as the land sloth that once roamed our land; and much MORE!