Chicago Academy Of Sciences

Education:the nature museum's education programs remain a staple at the institution, serving thousands of chicago area students and their teachers each year. During the 2023-2024 school year, we continued to partner with hundreds of teachers throughout the chicago area to provide science educational opportunities for students. The nature museum continued our existing relationship with after school matters with our teens (teenagers exploring and explaining nature and science) program. In this program, teenagers conduct urban ecology and environmental science investigations, and study the nature found in our city's parks, neighborhoods, and forest preserves. They contribute data to existing local, regional, and global research projects and work in teams to develop their own research questions to investigate. Thanks to the partnership with after school matters, teens earn $15.80 an hour in this internship program. Teens is also generously supported by the us forest service international programs and the chicago learning exchange (clx). The partnerships that we have developed allow us to bring our educational programming to those who may not have had access to similar programming prior. In fy2024, we were able to offer spots to 80 teens for our teens programming. The teens program was awarded accreditation through the middle states association commissions on elementary and secondary schools this fiscal year. Through our school partnership programs, nature museum educators are able to reach students from across the city and provide them with high quality, educational lessons that are centered around our mission to help create connections to nature. Science on the go, a teacher professional development program, served 198 classrooms in the 2023-2024 school year. This meant that approximately 5,940 students and 198 teachers received a science and nature based educational program that was designed to help deepen their connection with the environment, and, for teachers, strengthen their confidence and comfortability with teaching science subjects. Through in- and out-of-school time opportunities throughout chicago, museum educators make a lasting impact through whole-child learning approaches that build knowledge, skills, interest, and enthusiasm for stem topics. Education programs are founded in a student-driven and inquiry-based approach to connect our audiences to interdisciplinary nature and science phenomena. Fy24 student programs included: 719 field trip workshops (at pnnm), 320 summer campers, 158 winter campers, 79 nature on the go (in communities) workshops, 8 after school science club schools, 2 overnight events. Fy24 multi-touchpoint school partnerships with teacher professional development programs included: 198 science on the go classrooms, 3 whole school science partnership schools, 34 urban nature partnership classrooms, and 33 science teaching network teachers. Fy24 teens & young adults programs included: 4 cohorts (80 teens) in teens (after school matters/ usfs), 1 quarter-long course environmental education theory and practice for depaul university undergraduates, and 22 seasonal teen/ young adult staff and interns. Fy24 community partnership programs included: 12 chicago park district park voyagers (190 students), ost community partnership with 19 community groups, and 3 il department of natural resources entice educator partnership workshops with 39 educators. Meaningful and accessible stem leadership opportunities for high school and college-level girls are challenging to find. Students who are limited by their social, economic, or physical environments during out of school time (summer and winter) are at higher risk for worse academic, health, social and emotional, and safety outcomes. Established programs like the nature museum's camp counselor program encourages girls to explore stem opportunities and provides structured activities to support developmental needs and positive outcomes.in fiscal year 2024, the nature museum's education department partnered with depaul university's game development ii class. This partnership found a new way to engage different audiences. The result of this partnership were six digital games directly related to things the students found in our museum, whether it was patsy the snapping turtle, or monarch butterflies. These games combined fun and play with educational topics, so those interacting with the game are actively learning about things in the museum. These games can be found on the nature museum's website.

Exhibits and guest experience & engagement:on september 28, 2023, the nature museum proudly opened the sustainability center to the public. This new, permanent exhibit makes sustainability efforts approachable for illinois residents and visi-tors of all ages through interactives and resources that encourage local action to build resilient and sustainable communities. In this exhibit, guests can engage with our interactive gallery and rotating displays highlighting practical ways everyone can make an impact at home or in their community. A central feature of this exhibit is the floating, seven-foot-tall globe that displays dynamic, 360-degree graphics that illustrate the tangible benefits of making sustainability-focused decisions. Guests are inspired by real-life success stories of conservation impact on chicago communities, learn how to get involved in sustainability projects in their own neighborhood, check out sustaina-bility resources from our digital library, or explore in-house resources from our partners at the lin-coln park branch of the chicago public library. In honor of the grand opening of the sustainability center at the nature museum, the state of illinois and the city of chicago officially declared sep-tember 28, 2023, to be peggy notebaert nature museum sustainability center day.the nature museum featured two successful major temporary exhibits during fiscal year 2024. "the art of ezra tucker," an exhibit in the primary temporary space, specifically aimed to foster en-gagement with adult audiences. Ezra tucker overcame many obstacles in his life growing up in urban memphis during the tumultuous late 1960's. His connection to nature served as an inspiration and stabilizing agent for the artist during a period of rapid social change in american history. This exhibit gave chicagoans the opportunity to immerse themselves in tucker's artwork and see their own struggles with connecting with nature in an urban environment reflected in each piece."wild world: miracles in conservation" from little ray's exhibitions tells the stories of real animals and the people who have dedicated their lives to helping them survive. Wildlife populations around the world are under enormous stress due to pollution, deforestation, and habitat encroachment. This exhibit featured conservation stories about living species that were also present in the exhibit, so guests could connect the stories to real animals as they moved through the exhibit. Additionally, "wild world: miracles in conservation" helped visitors connect global conservation to the efforts happening in their own backyards. In fiscal year 2024, the nature museum began offering birthday parties again, welcoming 2,891 people for birthday parties. Additionally, the museum welcomed several other private event rentals throughout the fiscal year. The addition of birthday parties and private events is part of the nature museum's plan to diversify revenue streams in order to strengthen the institution's financial posi-tion. Throughout the fiscal year, the organization hosted numerous special events: several nature on tap evenings for adults, summer nature fest for families, booseum, and bugapalooza. Special events at the nature museum allow new audiences to experience the exciting things the institution has to offer in fun new ways.

Attendance and memberships:the nature museum has been diligently working to increase attendance since reopening the museum in 2021. In fy24, the museum saw a 3% increase in attendance with 118,433 guests compared to 115,386 in fy23. The nature museum had an increase of 26% in member visitors compared to fiscal year 2023. Visitor revenue increased by over 5% in fy24 and member revenue increased by 15% compared to fy23. Spring break 2024 for the nature museum saw the newest single day attendance record with 1,700 guests visiting the museum in one day.