Just in time for Thanksgiving break, Museum of Discovery is opening one of two new galleries this Saturday: Science Lab.
Science Lab features three content-focused zones: forces and energy; light and sound; and electricity and magnetism. The gallery encourages critical thinking, problem-solving, creativity, innovation and collaboration. Additionally, the space encourages family learning by utilizing dispersed early childhood exhibits so that younger children can be just as engaged in Science Lab as their older siblings (and even parents or grandparents).
Some of the gallery’s new exhibits include:
- Chain Reaction Builds: Guests design, build and test their very own chain reaction that will result in a variety of rewarding actions.
- Raceway Challenge: Guests can work collaboratively or alone to design and experiment with energy transfer and gravity by using track sections (straight, curved, loops, etc.) to create simple or complex raceways.
- Light the City: Guests try to balance electrical capacity against varying demand in a simulated fantasy city. To do this, they must make choices about sources of electricity that suit the city they choose to power.
- Paint with Color Wall: Two large vertical horizontal screens mounted to the wall each provide an interactive opportunity for guests to paint and design with color and light using a digital painting program. A pedestal-mounted kinetic sensor allows guests to paint by moving their hands to control the painting process, choose shapes and overlap patterns and colors.
The second of the two new galleries, Dynamic Earth, will open on Saturday, Dec. 16, and will demonstrate how the planet changes through three zones: adaptation, transformations and forces of change. Guests will witness how the smallest of microbes recycle energy back into systems of life or see what sets drastic geological changes into motion.
In addition to the gallery opening, Museum of Discovery will be celebrating Thanksgiving break with hands-on activities, animal programming and science demos. The museum will be open 9 a.m. – 5 p.m. Monday-Saturday (closed on Thanksgiving Day) and 1-5 p.m. Sunday.
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