The Wagner's evening courses are the oldest, free adult education program in the country! The adult lecture courses are offered on an introductory college level. They are open to anyone seeking an introduction to various areas of the sciences as well as those familiar with the subjects who wish to broaden and update their knowledge. Courses are held off-site at a variety of locations throughout Philly, making them accessible to a wider audience.

Evening Courses

Current Offerings - Fall 2026

FALL 2026 COURSE: ZOOLOGY SERIES

Meet the Beetles
with Professor Greg Cowper

There are roughly 2 million named species on earth and approximately 400,000 of those species are beetles. That’s 20 percent of all life on earth, or put another way, every fifth species is a different species of beetle! Beetles are the most successful organism on the planet and play a critical role in the ecological functions supporting life on earth. This new 6-week course will examine their scientific placement, the reasons for their tremendous success, their adaptability, diversity, the ecological services they provide, their beauty and cultural impact.

This course requires pre-registration. Separate registration is required for each student.

View the course syllabus here.

6 Thursdays from October 1 - November 5, from 6 - 7:30pm

Location: at the Parkway Central Library

Register for Meet the Beetles

Previous Courses

Spring 2026

  • The approach of the 250th anniversary of American independence is a fitting time to reflect on the ways our Philadelphia ancestors chose to celebrate achievement and commemorate sacrifice. Bruce Laverty will examine the integral role Philadelphia’s builders, engineers and architects played in these milestone events. In 1774, they hosted the First Continental Congress at Carpenters Hall. In 1788, they built the Federal Edifice, a circular, portable, 10-columned, domed, classical temple-a physical symbol of the newly created United States. He will discuss the architectural and engineering triumph of the 1876 Centennial, an enterprise so successful, it planted the seeds of failure for both the 1926 Sesquicentennial and the 1976 Bicentennial – or so it seems. He will explore the good that emerged from these apparent failures and the challenge we face in 2026.

    This course requires pre-registration. Separate registration is required for each student.

    6 Tuesdays from May 5 - June 9, 2026; 6 - 7:30pm

    Location: at the Parkway Central Library

  • What makes one mushroom edible and another poisonous, and why are they like this? How have humans utilized fungi for medicine, both naturally throughout history and pharmaceutically in modern times? And what’s up with psychedelic mushrooms? These questions and more will be answered in this six-week lecture series focused on all the ways in which humans interact with fungi as food and medicine.

    This course requires pre-registration. Separate registration is required for each student.

    6 Tuesdays from April 7 - May 12, 2026, 6:00 - 7:30 PM

    Location: Pennsylvania Horticultural Society

Winter 2026

  • The nation states that arose from the political revolutions of the late 18th century play a role in shaping human society as we understand it today. Similarly, the geological and paleontological revolutions of those same few decades shape scientific practice today. With this course, audiences will be transported back to a time when fossils, long dismissed as divine tricks or inorganic curiosities, first developed an international reputation as important tools in understanding the history of life. Professor Jason Downs will present historical stories but also use his own experiences as a paleontologist to reflect on how this time of revolution continues to reverberate in current scientific research.

    6 Saturdays from February 28 - April 4, 2026; 10 - 11:30 am

    Location: Parkway Central Library (room 202)

  • In recognition of the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, this course will explore the roles of key crops in American colonial history. Beginning with an introduction to agriculture in North America before 1776, each week will focus on one or more colonial-era crops that had significant economic, social and cultural impacts on Americans and American history. The course will consider both indigenous crops and plants introduced by people who came to the Americas voluntarily and involuntarily.

    6 Tuesdays from January 13 - February 17, 6:00 - 7:30 PM

    Location: Pennsylvania Horticultural Society

  • Benjamin Franklin, a central figure in both the political and scientific spheres, will serve as a guiding figure throughout the course. Each week will delve into his contributions, using his work as a lens to understand the evolution of key scientific concepts and their lasting impact on modern science. By examining Franklin's innovations, students will gain a deeper appreciation for how scientific discoveries continue to shape our world.

    6 Wednesdays from March 4 - April 8, 2026; 6 - 7:30pm

    Location: Parkway Central Library

Fall 2025

  • HISTORY OF SCIENCE SERIES

    Maps are as much about imagined worlds as they are about reality. Rarely are they just a means of getting from one place to another. Instead, they transform our thoughts and uncertainties into something we can see, understand, and control. Over six weeks, this course will look at some important aspects of maps to understand how maps function. By putting them into their specific social and cartographic contexts, the course will examine how they represent and convey ideas about the world we live in.

    6 Mondays from September 22 - November 3, 2025, from 6 - 7:30 PM

    Location: Parkway Central Library

  • ZOOLOGY SERIES

    Collecting Insects in Brightest Africa will chronicle the adventures of hunting ‘small’ game in Africa. Part travelogue, part natural history and entomology, the course will weave its way through the history of collecting insects in Africa to the present. The stage is set by highlighting several pivotal early African Insect collectors. Then the African insect fauna will be presented and discussed from recent collecting expeditions to South Africa, the Kingdom of Lesotho, Namibia, Morocco and Malawi. Insect collecting protocols and the importance of collecting will also be addressed.

    This course requires pre-registration. Separate registration is required for each student.

    6 Wednesdays from October 8 - November 12, 6 - 7:30pm

    Location: Parkway Central Library

Winter/Spring 2025

  • Instructor and illustrator Meg Lemieur will guide students in utilizing the Wagner collections as references to learn basic animal and insect anatomy, develop fur, feathers, scales, and eventually build on these basic skills to create their own illustrated scenes.

    This course requires pre-registration. Separate registration is required for each student.

    5 Fridays from February 14 - March 14, 2:00 - 4:30 PM

    Location: This course meets at the Wagner Free Institute of Science

  • BOTANY SERIES

    The term “symbiosis” literally means “living together” and in biology, it refers to a relationship where two organisms interact very closely. One of the organisms must benefit from the association while the second organism may be unaffected, harmed, or also benefited. This course will focus on symbiotic relationships involving plants with other organisms, including animals and microbes. Many bacterial and fungal parasites that cause plant diseases are symbiotic with their plant hosts but we will not talk much about them—the focus will be on relationships where both partners benefit or at least are not harmed.

    This course requires pre-registration. Separate registration is required for each student.

    6 Tuesdays from January 14 - February 18, 6:30 - 7:30 PM

    Location: This course meets at the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society, located at 100 N. 20th Street in Philadelphia.

  • BOTANY SERIES

    Fungi are a vast group of life as distinct, diverse, and ancient as plants and animals, and they are essential and beneficial members of every ecosystem on Earth. However, fungi are largely ignored—or worse, maligned—by the general public. A growing appreciation for the fascinating ways in which fungi intersect with human lives is shifting this narrative. For millennia, humans have utilized fungi for food, medicine, and artistic inspiration, and in modern times, for biotechnology and environmental remediation. Informed by the most contemporary research on fungal evolutionary history, this introductory mycology course will expose students to the full taxonomic diversity of fungi. Touching on all the major groups of fungi, both familiar and obscure, we will explore how the unique biology of fungi allows them to shape the world.

    This course requires pre-registration. Separate registration is required for each student.

    6 Tuesdays from April 1 - May 6, 2025, 6:30 - 7:45 PM

    Location: This course meets at the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society, located at 100 N. 20th Street in Philadelphia.

    View course schedule and register below.

Spring 2024

  • BOTANY SERIES

    This course will explore several fundamental properties of trees and their importance in our world. Each week the class will consider what science can tell us about one of these properties and apply that knowledge to answer popular questions such as: How are trees able to grow so large? Do they really communicate with one another underground? Why are trees so vital to ameliorating storm water problems in urban areas?

    Ran for two sessions due to popular demand:
    6 Tuesdays from January 16 - February 20, 6:30-7:30 PM
    6 Tuesdays from April 2 - May 7, 6:30-7:30 PM

    Location: Pennsylvania Horticultural Society

  • BIOLOGY SERIES

    While the scientific understanding of evolution has advanced tremendously since Darwin, when evolution is taught today, the focus has remained on natural selection as the primary force. This course is intended to reveal the theory in its entirety and from the grandest perspectives. The course will explore all of evolution’s mechanisms, how they interact across species and ecosystems, and finally, how a firm understanding of evolution becomes a powerful tool in addressing modern biological questions.

    6 Saturdays from February 17 - March 23, 10:30 AM - 12:00 PM

    Location: Parkway Central Library

  • CHEMISTRY SERIES

    This class will explore the composition of cosmetics, which are used by everybody. Moisturizers, sun blocks, haircare products, medicated ointments, beauty aids and topically applied materials are all important consumer products. From ancient times to the modern day, cosmetics have a rich history of effective use. Learn more about these fascinating products and what they do and why. Each week will explore the chemistry and physics of a different type of cosmetic.

    6 Thursdays from March 21 - April 25, 6:30-8:00 PM

    Location: Parkway Central Library

  • ARCHITECTURE AND URBANISM SERIES

    Elizabeth Willing Powell and Paul Robeson, Anthony J. Drexel and Billie Holiday, Wilt Chamberlain and Paul Cret, John Penn and Horace Trumbauer; all called it home. Their neighborhood gave us the nation’s first botanic garden; its first zoo, and its first computer, not to mention Breyers Ice Cream and American Bandstand. Join this six -week course with Bruce Laverty for a trip through West Philadelphia history and architecture and find out what made (and continues to make) Philadelphia’s “left bank” such a successful incubator of innovation.

    6 Mondays from March 25 - April 29, 6:30-8:00 PM

    Location: Parkway Central Library

Fall 2023

  • ZOOLOGY SERIES

    This course is an introduction to general Entomology, the study of insects. Insects are the most successful organisms on Earth. Their triumph will set the stage for discussion of life on Earth, evolution, morphology, development, behavior & classification. Twenty-seven insect orders will be considered and a remarkable insect group will be highlighted each class. An appreciation of the diversity of insects and their importance in our lives is the underlying theme of the course.

    6 Wednesdays from Oct 4 - Nov 8, 6:30 - 8pm

    Location: Parkway Central Library

  • HISTORY OF SCIENCES SERIES

    The concept of madness presents a challenge. What sorts of perceived deviant behavior indicated that a person was mad? How have societies understood the assumed underlying conditions that caused that behavior? How have societies responded to — tried to control or treat or help or ostracize — those thought to be mad? This course will examine some of the ways past societies identified, explained, and reacted to behavior they considered deviant and evidence of madness. It will focus on how madness has been defined and viewed from antiquity through the 19th century in Europe and North America.

    6 Tuesdays from Oct 17 - Nov 21, 6:30 - 8pm

    Location: Parkway Central Library

  • CHEMISTRY SERIES

    The advancement of humanity is closely-tied to the ability to harness energy. Harnessing fire fueled by wood or peat enabled modern human’s evolution. As civilizations developed, so too did technologies that would employ energy from the sun, wind, and water. By the 18th Century, coal (and coke) displaced wood charcoal, fueling the early industrial revolution. Petroleum further propelled the industrial revolution from the mid-19th Century onwards, and today humanity relies primarily on coal and petroleum to meet our energy needs. However, given that fossil fuels are non-renewable and will eventually be depleted, which technologies can be employed to meet the ever-increasing demand for energy?

    This course will survey current energy generation technologies. The survey will include the science associated with these technologies, along with the advantages and disadvantages each technology specifically offers.

    6 Mondays from Oct 2 - Nov 6, 6:30 - 8:00pm

    Location: Online, via Zoom

Spring 2023

  • ARCHITECTURE & URBANISM SERIES

    North Philadelphia has been home to the city’s wealthiest citizens and its poorest. Its factories gave us everything—including the Baldwin Locomotive, the Stetson Hat, the Flexible Flyer Sled, and the Oreo cookie. By the 1890s the typical North Philadelphia rowhouse was considered nothing short of a modern miracle, and even made an appearance at the Chicago World’s Fair.  It was the neighborhood where a preacher named Russell Conwell would found a University and become best friends with Rabbi Joseph Krauskopf, whose Keneseth Israel synagogue was just steps away from the Baptist Temple. It was the location of Philadelphia’s two most devastating riots—in 1844 and in 1964.  It was home to Dox Thrash and John Coltrane. It was where Cecil B. Moore and Rev. Leon Sullivan led the struggle for civil rights and economic freedom. How North Philadelphia succeeds or fails in the 21st century will determine how the entire city succeeds or fails. North Philadelphia is Philadelphia.

    This course requires pre-registration & each person MUST individually sign up for the course.

    6 Mondays from March 27 - May 8, 6:30 - 8pm

    Location: Athenaeum of Philadelphia

  • BOTANY SERIES

    For many years some gardeners have been interested in yards and gardens that are more similar to natural habitats than rows of crops. This course will begin by exploring why we have the kinds of lawns and gardens we do and then consider alternatives. While there will be some practical information about specific plants that could be used for a more naturally sustainable landscape, the focus of the course will be on helping students assemble the knowledge and resources to design and manage their own yards and gardens.

    This course requires pre-registration & each person MUST individually sign up for the course.

    6 Tuesdays from January 17 - February 21, 6:30 - 7:30pm

    Location: Pennsylvania Horticultural Society