Teacher and Student Resources
The Buffalo Bill Center of the West offers these many resources for teachers and students, including tour maps, Skype in the Classroom lessons, and our Education Opportunities Guide.
BRAND NEW!! Interactive 360 Online Adventure
Come explore the alpine habitat of the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem using this engaging interactive! Learn about this special habitat and the amazing animals that live there with 360 photos, immersive videos, activities and content. This resource is perfect for students, teachers, and families! And, teachers—all content is standards and inquiry based with built in assessment tools.
Educator Megan Smith recently took viewers on the 360 Adventure through a Live Skype in the Classroom event! Click here to watch the video and explore with Megan.
Click here to explore 360 Adventure: Alpine
NEW! Free Professional Development Opportunities
The Center is excited to offer some exciting new professional development opportunities. We can visit schools in person, through Skype in the Classroom, or you can come to us.
For more information about these workshops, e-mail Megan Smith or contact her at 307-578-4028.
Bringing Primary Sources Alive in Your Classroom
Primary resource challenge – think outside the box! During this professional development session, teachers will dive into the availability of online collections, library archives, art, and three-dimensional objects to use as primary resources. Teacher’s will leave with the tools to create their own lesson that they can bring back to their classroom. Center educators can design a program based on your specific needs.
What’s Art Got to Do with Science and Culture?
Let’s get creative in how teachers can bring art into their classroom. During this workshop, teachers will bring an interdisciplinary approach into how they can use art when covering content areas such as science, social studies, literacy, culture, and even math.
What’s the Story: Teaching with Objects in Your Classroom to Facilitate Student Centered-Learning
Did you every think different kinds of shoes have a story? Or maybe, different hats? Together we’ll work with teachers to uncover the hidden stories about objects centered around our Plains Indian collection at the Buffalo Bill Center of the West. Then teachers can take what they’ve learned back to their classroom. Visit our Skype in the Classroom page to learn more. Click on the photo below to get a sneak peek into this professional development experience.
Educational Opportunities Guide
Click here for our downloadable Educational Opportunities Guide and find out more about the educational opportunities you can find with the Buffalo Bill Center of the West.
Plains Indian Map Project
This Plains Indian Map—created with generous funding from The Brown Foundation, Inc., of Houston—is a fusion of scholarship and educational interpretation. The map represents 230 years of movement on the Plains amongst more than 45 different Indian cultures. Territorial, treaty, reservation, and state boundaries flow in an animated timeline.
The innovative scholarship and interpretation showcased in this map is recommended for a broad audience, including K–12 teachers and students. Viewers can pause the online animation at any point to study a particular map.
Borrow a Backpack
Consider checking out one of our new backpacks while at the Center! This new resource will enhance your self-guided field trip experience through hands-on learning. Click here to find out more. Call 307-578-4028 today to reserve a backpack and other materials for your field trip.
Teacher Guides for our Guided Tours
The following guides are available for teachers to print. Each guide contains objectives, standards, pre- and post-visit activities, and a resource list. Click on the images below for each tour to view its teacher guide.
BRAND NEW! Scavenger Hunts
Scavenger Hunts are available now for self-guided exploration on your field trip to the Center. Please print scavenger hunts for your students prior to your field trip visit.
Click on the photo below to download our scavenger hunts. This document contains scavenger hunts for all museums, except the Cody Firearms Museum.
Skype in the Classroom
The Buffalo Bill Center of the West is part of Skype in the Classroom. You can visit the Center virtually by signing up for one of our participatory lessons. Click here to learn more about our Skype in the Classroom lessons—and then schedule a lesson with us! Microsoft in Education has recognized the Center as an Educator Community Influencer, an Educator Community Contributor, and a Certified Microsoft Innovative Educator.
Indian Education for All K-12 Resources
Visit our new Indian Education for All Resources page to access all our onsite, outreach, and online offerings that meet Montana and Wyoming’s Indian Education for All component in these state’s Social Studies Standards.
Lending Materials
The Buffalo Bill Center of the West also offers outreach trunks, learning kits, and DVDs on a variety of subjects, including western art, history, culture, Yellowstone natural history, and more. Click here to find out the details and submit a request online.
Online Games and Interactives
Don’t miss our new online games and interactives—as fun as they are educational.
Greater Yellowstone Sights and Sounds
Click here for short video clips, perfect for illustrating a school project.