Keystone Science School

Inspiring respect for science, the environment, self and others using scientific frameworks, inquiry and interdisciplinary academic instruction in the natural world.

Keystone Science School is a residential field science school that challenges citizens—from children to adults—to develop critical thinking skills as they follow a path that explores nature and science education. Making extensive use of the outdoor laboratory around us, we nurture scientific inquiry and cultivate sensitivity to the natural environment.

Keystone Science School knows that today's youth are the future leaders who will develop policies and make decisions impacting our world. To help them be engaged citizens in the future, Keystone Science School has created educational and interactive science education programs that stimulate young minds and make them comfortable with scientific and critical thinking.

Our campus, the site of the Summit, is located at 9200 feet in the beautiful Rocky Mountains of Summit County Colorado.  The site of the school is the historic town of Keystone, a saw mill and train depot for the growing silver and gold mining towns of the late 1800s.  Many of the historic building are still on the site and most of the Keystone Science School staff calls them home.

KSS serves almost 4000 students each year. The School Groups Program is designed for classroom teachers to bring their students to our facility to enrich their classroom teaching in standards-based programs such as geology, forest ecology, aquatics, snow science and environmental issues.

During the summer, Keystone Science School offers Summer Programs ranging from Discovery Camp, a residential camp for 7-13 year olds, Counselor Assistant Program for 14-17 year olds interested in leadership and teaching experience and Keystone Mountain Adventures for 14-17 year olds wanting to learn about low-impact camping and natural history while living under the stars.

Center for Science and Public Policy

The Keystone Center for Science and Public Policy uses scientific reasoning, analytical frameworks and alternative dispute resolution techniques to help adults, from all over the world, work together toward building consensus and sustainable policies. The Keystone Science School provides today’s teachers and students with hands-on experiences to broaden their perspectives of nature, the environment and society. The Professional Education and Leadership Division creates capacity building efforts to assist people - from students to senior decision makers - in charting the challenging territory of balancing scientific and analytical information and interests at stake to resolve issues at the nexus of sustainable development.   

The Keystone Center

Both Keystone Science School and the Center for Science and Public Policy are program divisions of The Keystone Center.  Founded in 1975, The Keystone Center seeks to solve our society’s most challenging environmental, energy, and public health problems.The Keystone Center is a unique and innovative non-profit organization that has been working with the leaders of today and tomorrow for the past 30 years. The Keystone Center accomplishes its mission through two centers of excellence, first of which focuses on public policy (the Center for Science and Public Policy) and the second of which focuses on education through Keystone Science School and Professional Education and leadership (training, institutes, seminars, and workshops for teachers).

Together, all Keystone programs teach people of all ages, from all over the world, how to value and review critical scientific information, work with diverse groups, and use collaborative reasoning. The result: current and future decision-makers learn to broaden their perspectives, come to consensus, and resolve critical issues.