Students from a field trip to the Minnesota Discovery Center playing a game.

Learning Opportunities

Field Trips

Book your school or company field trip to the Minnesota Discovery Center for a fun, educational experience! Your students or team members learn through hands-on exhibits and live demonstrations. Our programs meet all Minnesota K-12 Academic Standards.

For more information, check out our Field Trips Information FAQ.

Guest Curator

Need a guest speaker for Iron Range history? Feel free to schedule a talk with our Museum and Research Center Director, Allyse Freeman, on topics such as Iron Range immigration, labor history, or Prohibition. We offer opportunities for offsite in-the-classroom sessions or other speaking engagements for your organization.

Contact Allyse at allyse@mndiscoverycenter.org or 218-254-1238 for more information.

Iron Range Research Center

The Iron Range Research Center is a free public resource. Its staff is always ready and willing to share information about how to conduct genealogical research and to help you explore your family history.

No appointment necessary! Walk in and say “hi” anytime during the IRRC’s current operating hours: Tuesday through Saturday from 10:00am-5:00pm.

For more information, contact our Collections Manager, Cara Mooney, at archivist@mndiscoverycenter.org or 218-254-6024.

Minnesota Media Arts School

The Minnesota Discovery Center’s Minnesota Media Arts School, in partnership with UMD Duluth and Zeitgeist Film, is an affordable option for the Northland’s diverse creative community, which includes filmmakers, graphic designers, multimedia artists, and theatrical artists, to learn, work, create, and connect. With teaching hubs in Chisholm and Duluth, we will significantly contribute to the regional film ecosystem.

We aim to empower, support, and educate Northland community members ages 16+ as active participants in shaping our culture and engaging diverse communities to rethink how we view film, art, and local storytelling. We provide access and a platform to work, learn, create, and experience filmmaking and media production in our community.

The Minnesota Media Arts School offers access to iMac computers with creative design and editing software, meeting rooms, multi-media studios, film/video equipment for on-site photo/video shoots and projects, digital tools, and more.

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Crafting Legacy Video Series

Crafting Legacy is an original Minnesota Discovery Center production. The videos in this series focus on the traditions, history, and techniques of beading, blacksmithing, and weaving. Emmy-nominated filmmaker Matthew Koshmrl and independent filmmaker Jeremy Nelson filmed the production. The Minnesota State Arts Board funded it via the Creative Support for Organizations grant program.

View the Crafting Legacy series on YouTube

The Creative Support for Organizations grant program is designed to support arts foundations and non-arts organizations that regularly offer arts programming as they rebuild, reimagine, and continue to adapt their arts programming in response to the changing environment caused by the global pandemic. Minnesota voters made this activity possible through a grant from the Minnesota State Arts Board, thanks to a legislative appropriation from the Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund.

For more information about the Iron Range’s rich heritage, view these educational documentaries:

These three educational videos were inspired by a request from a local history teacher during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. The Minnesota Discovery Center wanted to create historical and cultural content that users could view safely from home when they couldn’t visit the museum in person.

The topics for each video are (i) Cultural History of the Ojibwe, (ii) Immigration to the Iron Range, and (iii) Iron Range Labor History. These videos are also meant to supplement our permanent exhibits on the above topics. They go hand-in-hand with the interpretation you can see in person.