Support your student’s learning at home!
Whether attending school virtually or in-person, our online initiative is your one-stop shop for STEM activities, educational videos, family fun and more. Everyone is surrounded by science, and often times it’s a lot closer than you think! With Sam Noble Home, you’ll still be able to learn and enjoy the wonders of science and natural history from your own home and backyard.
Support Our Education Programs
Are you interested in supporting the museum? By donating to our public education programs, you will help us continue to inspire minds to understand the world through collection-based research, interpretation, and education. Any dollar amount can help your museum continue to serve the people of Oklahoma.
Review the following areas to see where your donation can make a difference:
- Donate to the Student Outreach Programs and General Education Operations Fund: This fund was established to provide support for the museum’s student outreach programs and general education operations, programs, and special projects.
- Donate to the Fossil Fuel Fund: This fund provides financial support for field trip expenses, including admission and program fees and transportation to and from the museum, for eligible K-12 schools.
- Donate to the Discovery on the Road Fund: This fund supports the Sam Noble Museum’s Discovery on the Road project, which seeks to extend science and cultural resources beyond museum walls to provide Oklahomans with hands on science and cultural educational resources. The funds will be used for discovery kits, traveling exhibits, shipping costs, and to create content and digital resources.
- Donate to the Children’s Program Endowment: This fund provides support for the museum’s children programs. By donating to this fund, you are supporting educational and outreach programs for more than 20,000 childrenand 250 schools that visit the museum each year.
- Donate to the Exhibits and Public Programs Endowment: This is an endowed fund established to provide support for the museum’s exhibits and public programs, including the development of new exhibits and programs, creation of new traveling exhibits that will extend the museum’s impact, upgrading current exhibits, and hosting temporary exhibits.
- Donate to the Roberta Pailes Endowment: This endowed fund has been established to assist with the attendance and registration costs of children’s programs for families who can demonstrate financial need.
Apply for the Roberta Pailes Fund
Families with children ages 3 to 17 who can demonstrate financial need may apply to waive program fees. All costs are covered by the Roberta Pailes Fund.
All fee waivers have been distributed for Summer 2025 programs. You are welcome to apply for a fee waiver for a future program. Applications will open again in July 2025 for Fall programs.
Roberta Pailes educated students of all ages about natural and cultural history for more than three decades at the Sam Noble Oklahoma Museum of Natural History. Generations of Norman residents came to know her through school programs, archaeology labs and summer programs. She shared her love of all things wild and her ethic of caring for nature with legions of children. Roberta also served the greater Norman community on many boards including Parks, Sutton Urban Wilderness and many planning commissions and study groups. She believed that people will care for what they know about. Children who play in and explore wilderness will grow up to be adults who choose to protect wildlife and natural landscapes. This fund honors and continues her legacy by making museum education programs available to empower children to learn about the world around them.
If you would like to make a donation to the Roberta Pailes Fund and help children attend educational programming at the Sam Noble Museum, you can Click Here.
Bring Our Scientists to Your Classroom!
Bring scientists into your virtual classroom! The Sam Noble Museum is excited to offer a new way to support your students’ learning goals through interaction with our research scientists and staff. Whether a simple question and answer session or a presentation on a certain topic, the content will be tailored to the age of the students to fit the time allotted.
Visits will be scheduled according to staff availability and on a first come, first served basis. Virtual classrooms must have a minimum of 10 students.
To get started, fill out the form with your preferred virtual platform, dates and topic(s) and a staff member will contact you to schedule a virtual visit!
