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Home|Group Tour Operators|Student Educational Programs

Student Educational Programs

The Greater Williamsburg Area offers a variety of educational programs that encourage and support hands-on learning opportunities and fun experiential programs for various youth groups including programs for Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts and entertainment groups. Listed below are samples of the many programs offered at our area attractions.

Please contact each attraction directly for more information.

Berkeley Plantation

  • Life in the 18th Century – This tour examines the social standards and education of boys and girls in the Virginia colony. Students will explore the life of colonial times and compare the colonial life style to that of life in the 21st century.
  • President William Henry Harrison – In addition to a focus on colonial life, students will examine the life of William Henry Harrison from his boyhood at Berkeley Plantation to the office of President of the United States.
  • The Civil War and The Army of the Potomac – Visit General George McClellan’s headquarters and supply base for 140,000 union soldiers in 1862. Learn about the life of a soldier during the Civil War.

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Busch Gardens Williamsburg 

  •  Funky Physics Show – student groups get in motion during a high-energy physics show where hip-hop jams collide with the physics of motion. Inspired by the perplexing twists and turns of the park’s roller coasters and the amazing acrobatic stunts of our performers, this show encompasses interactive demonstrations and energetic experiments.
  • X-treme Physics – this dynamic program infuses students with exhilaration for math and science. Our curriculum guide can be modified to meet the needs of the class and students will experience G-forces that they can measure with mounted ride accelerometers.
  • Conservation Counts – from reptiles and raptors to wolves and wallaroos, animals are found on all continents and are an integral part of our ecosystem. Jack Hanna’s Wild Reserve teaches the importance of global conservation in a fun atmosphere.

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Colonial Williamsburg 

  • Choosing Revolution, Becoming Americans – History comes alive in this engaging program that allows students to touch, hear, smell, and see the 18th-century colonial world that gave rise to our nation. Stories of great people and great events are intertwined with hands-on activities — students may drill with muskets, try on colonial clothing, play an 18th-century game of trapball, elect a burgess, or even vote for independence!
  • Historic Trades and Activities – What was it like to be a wheelwright or wig maker, blacksmith or cook? And what did they really use all those leeches for in the Apothecary? Experience the life and work of average people of the 18th century during this fascinating look at a “day in the life” of Virginia’s colonial capital city.
  • Evening and Special Event Programs – Join in a variety of 18th-century entertainments from theater to dance, the “dearest diversion” of colonial Virginians. Become spellbound by our soul-stirring stories, and act like an 18th-century audience — scream for encores and shout “Huzzah!” Take a lantern tour and learn of dark secrets and scary ghosts, the real and surreal experiences of colonial crime and punishment, or put a pirate on trial.

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Historic Jamestowne 

  • Mysteries of the Past – this program introduces students to the historic site of Jamestown through archeology. Students participate in activities to learn how mysteries of the past are solved by using historical documents and archeology at a historic site.
  • Virginia Indian Life – through on-site, hands-on activities students will inspect reproduction Native American artifacts such as arrowheads, a bow and arrow, quiver, food products, jewelry and animal hides.
  • Ranger Guided Walking Tour – Learn about the experiences of the early English settlers as they attempted to establish Jamestown as the first permanent English settlement in America.

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Jamestown Settlement

  • Life at Jamestown – Introduces students to the early struggles, economic ventures and daily life in the colony through interactive demonstrations such as open-hearth cooking and musket firing.
  • Cultures in Jamestown – Through role playing and examination of reproduction artifacts from the Powhatan Indian, English and African cultures, students compare and contrast the cultures that came into contact at Jamestown.
  • Living with the Indians – Corn grinding, hide scraping and cordage making are some of the activities students may try in the re-created Powhatan Indian Village. Visit the gallery, the riverfront discovery area and James Fort.

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The Mariners’ Museum

  • Age of Exploration – this popular program takes students on an imaginative journey through time to explore an era when cartographers were still mapping the world and mariners were discovering new landmasses, thus fueling the desire for knowledge and riches.
  • Captive Passage – Investigating the Transatlantic Slave Trade – this hands-on program helps students discover how the institution of black slavery shaped the history, culture, and commerce of four continents over the course of five centuries, and how its impact is still felt today.
  • Clash of Armor – The Battle of the Monitor and the Virginia – the development of ironclad ships during the American Civil War was a technological advance that would forever change the face of naval warfare. Using artifacts from the USS Monitor and the CSS Virginia, Museum teachers introduce students to the development of ironclad ships and history's first ironclad-to-ironclad combat.

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Presidents Park

  • The Constitution – this program focuses on the Constitution, the Bill of Rights, and the presidents who were in office when the amendments to the Constitution were ratified.
  • Civil War to Civil Rights – students explore the progress of civil rights in our country and learn about he presidents who had the most significant impact.
  • Before They Were Presidents – before being elected presidents, the leaders of our country came from a wide array of careers and educational backgrounds. Students will learn about selected presidents as individuals and how they contributed to our nation.

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Shirley Plantation

  • Robert E. Lee’s Schoolroom – students experience a re-created classroom with lessons similar to those learned by young Confederate General Lee when he attended school here on his grandfather’s plantation in the 1810s.
  • The Undertaker's Apprentice – students play the role of an apprentice to an 18th-century undertaker (today referred to as a "builder") by designing the Great House and investigating original building materials and construction techniques.
  • History Detective – students uncover the reality of Shirley's experience during the Civil War by examining copies of original primary source documents. Students learn what these documents tell us by what is written, as well as what is not written.

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Yorktown Battlefield & Visitor Center

  • Fortunes of War – this program helps students understand how the Siege of Yorktown and the American Revolution affected the lives of both soldiers and citizens. Students actively participate in the battlefield and town tours through hands-on activities, role-playing and demonstrations.
  • Siege Line Walking Tour – learn about the events surrounding the last major battle of the American Revolution at Yorktown. Groups will visit the British defenses around the town, see the American siege positions and discuss how General Washington successfully surrounded and defeated the British army.
  • Non-Firing Artillery Demonstration – in this hands-on program, students learn about the artillery used in the Revolutionary War. Selected students will form a gun crew and go through a mock firing following the same drill as General Washington’s troops.

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Yorktown Victory Center

  • Colonial Life – Students explore life on a typical 1780s Tidewater Virginia farm. Through a cooking activity and analysis of reproduction artifacts, students learn about the economic decisions and daily chores necessary to run a small farm during the colonial, Revolutionary War and post-war periods.
  • Colonial Medicine – History and science merge as students examine reproductions of 18th-century medical tools and procedures. Students learn theory, the types of health care given in a typical colonial home, and the many jobs of a colonial doctor – from pulling teeth to amputating arms and legs.
  • Life of a Private – While developing historical analysis skills, students investigate key issues that lead to the American Revolution through examination of reproduction artifacts from the time period.

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The Virginia Living Museum

  • Survival – It’s Wild! Discover the physical and behavioral adaptations that make it possible for a variety of wild animals to survive environmental extremes, locate food and shelter, find mates and avoid determined predators. This program combines live animals, real specimens from the museum’s collections and audience participation.
  • Worlds in Motion – From the incredible speeds of subatomic particles to the slow-motion flows of material within cells, the universe is buzzing with motion. This lively program explores the movements of atoms, living cells, planets, stars, galaxies, and the expanding universe.
  • Amphibians and Reptiles – Frogs and toads, lizards and snakes – compare their similarities and differences in a study of two major vertebrate classes. Investigate live specimens to identify structural and functional characteristics. Discover amazing adaptations for survival through locomotion, feeding and reproduction.

Performance opportunities are available at Busch Gardens Europe, Colonial Williamsburg and Presidents Park in addition to other non-traditional venues. Please call 800-368-6511 for more information.

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