In light of closures across the state due to the novel coronavirus, Montana State University’s Museum of the Rockies has launched a new, free online learning resource for community members.

The online library of resources comprises lessons, curriculum guides, games and videos intended for school-aged children, families, museum members, caregivers and the community to help stay engaged with the collections, exhibits and programs the museum has to offer. The resources are contributed by every department in the museum and will be updated weekly.

Highlights from the resource library include:

• More than 30 videos where audiences can learn from the museum’s educators, curators, staff, research associates and program partners, as well as go behind the scenes for special programs in the collections.
• Fourteen lesson and activity guides that offer original content, including “Our Home, Our World: Discovering Earth and Space Science in Kumamoto and Montana,” an educator’s guide created with museum partners in Montana and Japan.
• More than 50 audio recordings of evening lectures from the museum and its program partners, sponsored by Gallatin Valley Community Radio.
• Access to digital collections from the museum, including its photo archive and the new Marlene Saccoccia Quilt Heritage Project with the Montana Memory Project.
• An archive of the museum’s social media posts from 2020 with educational information about its collections and exhibitions.

Later in April, the museum will launch MOR AT HOME, a members-only virtual programming initiative. The museum will also offer free, online streaming programs for Montana schoolchildren through its partnership with Streamable Learning later this spring.

To access the online resources, visit museumoftherockies.org/learn.