Seeing Stars
On the western edge of campus, the Stickney Observatory houses a 16-inch computer-controlled telescope through which students observe the night skies over the Green Mountains.
![Students observing night sky outside observatory](/sites/default/files/styles/carousel_1400x850/public/sources/view-gallery/SMC_observatory_1400x850.jpg.webp?itok=3jtsIYYJ)
![Students doing field research on Bennington campus](/sites/default/files/styles/carousel_1400x850/public/sources/view-gallery/ENV_biodiversity_1400x850_0.jpg.webp?itok=KXCzB6s4)
Bennington’s 440-acre campus—with 80 species of trees, 15 acres of wetland, and 121 bird species sighted—offers a wealth of field study opportunities.
![Chemistry lab](/sites/default/files/styles/carousel_1400x850/public/sources/view-gallery/SMC_lab2_1400x850.jpg.webp?itok=M7MaFZ3D)
Dickinson Science Building is equipped with labs for biology, chemistry, computer science, earth sciences, and physics.
![Biology class](/sites/default/files/styles/carousel_1400x850/public/sources/view-gallery/SMC_McClellan-class_1400x850.jpg.webp?itok=wBEgYWW9)
You’ll find no large lecture halls in Dickinson. Even introductory classes are small.
![Math class](/sites/default/files/styles/carousel_1400x850/public/sources/view-gallery/SMC_Montovan-class_1400x850.jpg.webp?itok=_-CZUTy9)
Math classes, like most classes at Bennington, are hands-on and discussion-driven.
![Dickinson Science Building exterior](/sites/default/files/styles/carousel_1400x850/public/sources/view-gallery/SMC_Dickinson_1400x850.jpg.webp?itok=Gs0LsEaD)
Bennington students and faculty built a trebuchet to measure the effect of wind resistance on the range of projectile motion.
![Students presenting work at science poster session](/sites/default/files/styles/carousel_1400x850/public/sources/view-gallery/SMC_PosterSession_1400x850.jpg.webp?itok=wJ9VGUxG)
Each term students present their work in a poster session that is open to the campus community.