Discovery Trunks

Discovery Trunks

Discovery Trunks bring science alive for students! Carry a Discovery Trunk into your classroom and intrigue learners with the included hands-on materials and inquiry-based lessons. Each trunk contains quality museum specimens and/or supplies, a Teacher's Manual that includes background information and relevant lesson plans, children's literature, animal natural histories (for select trunks) and a program evaluation form.

Discovery Trunks are available for loan by educators (including homeschoolers) in the Ohio-Indiana-Kentucky area.

Discovery Trunks may be borrowed for one week and must be picked up and returned to the Hefner Zoology Museum. The museum is open from 9:00-5:00 weekdays (year-round) and 1:00-4:00 on the first Sunday of the month (September-May).

Use of the Discovery Trunks is FREE. In return, we ask that you take time to complete the program evaluation form [108 KB PDF] and return it to the museum.

To reserve a Discovery Trunk, contact Steve Eshbaugh at 513.529.3346 or eshbaush@muohio.edu.

The following Discovery Trunks are currently available for loan:

Skulls
Eleven Mammal Skulls: Badger, Bobcat, Bulldog, Coyote, Gray Fox, Groundhog, Opossum, Domestic Pig, Raccoon, Red Fox, Whitetail Deer; Dichotomous Keys to Mammals of Southwest Ohio; Diagrams of a Skull
Mammals
Twelve mammal sets: Eastern Fox Squirrel, Red Fox, Opossum, Whitetail Deer, Raccoon, Meadow Vole, Short-tailed Shrew, Big Brown Bat, Striped Skunk, Eastern Cottontail Rabbit, Groundhog, Deer Mouse. Each set includes some or all of the following items: track replica, scat replica, skull, fur sample, habitat photo, and food photo.
Fossils
Fifteen sets of Ordovician fossils each with 50 small specimens including brachiopod, bryozoan, gastropods, cephalopod, crinoid stem, petrified wood, and leaves
The Call of the Wild
Eleven Canid Skulls: Gray Wolf, Red Wolf, Coyote, African Hunting Dog, Black-backed Jackal, Dhole, Arctic Fox, Gray Fox, Red Fox, St. Bernard, Siberian Huskey; Dichotomous Key; The Call of the Wild by Jack London
Molluscs
6 sets of gastropod and bivalve shells, mollusc anatomy diagram, identification keys, animal natural histories
Freshwater Mussels
7 mussel shells, button-drilled mussel shells, shell buttons, dichotomous key, Powerpoint presentation
Real Eggs
Real bird eggs from Puffins, Geese, Ducks and Penguins
Model Eggs
Wooden model bird eggs representing 10 species (small to large)
Food Chains (Vernal Pool or Forest/Meadow)
Laminated photos of producers and consumers to create food chains or webs
Turtle Shells
Shells or shell fragments from Blanding’s Turtle, Red-eared Slider, Common Snapping Turtle, and Common Map Turtle

The following additional materials are currently available for loan:

Museum Specimens - specimens of preserved fish, amphibians, reptiles, birds and mammals

Plastic Lizards - for sorting and dichotomous key lessons (includes lesson plan)

Plastic Insects - for sorting and dichotomous key lessons (includes lesson plan)

African Survival Game - set of large game tiles and photographs (includes lesson plan)

Puppets - rabbit, box turtle, sea turtle, skunk, black bear, brown bear, beaver, raccoon, squirrel, fox (2)

Beetle Bark - elm bark with evidence of elm bark beetle infestation

Oranges in Various States of Decomposition