8/14/2007 - New Science and Engineering Exhibits
Austin Children’s Museum Showcases Science and Engineering with Two New Exhibits
Austin, Texas (August 14, 2007) — Nanobiotechnology. Engineering design processes. Guess what! You don’t have to be Einstein or a rocket scientist to explore the fun-damentals of these concepts. On September 29, children and adults alike can playfully discover science and engineering in two new, hands-on exhibits, It’s a Nano World and Tinkerer’s Workshop, at Austin Children’s Museum (ACM).
These new exhibits demonstrate the Museum’s progress toward its new direction. “While our work will remain multi-disciplinary, we will focus on creative problem-solving with an emphasis on innovative learning experiences in science, technology, engineering and math,” said Mike Nellis, Executive Director at ACM.
Nanoscience is the cutting edge study of things too small to be seen with the human eye. Discoveries on this scale have led to applications from biomedical engineering to increasingly small memory storage devices and beyond. It’s a Nano World introduces visitors to the biological wonders of the nano world and the tools that scientists make and use to study them. Kids will have a chance to use a scope on a rope to magnify their skin or clothing 200 times larger than life, sort “cells,” measure themselves in nanometers and more. This interactive exhibit about things smaller than a spot on a ladybug will be featured at ACM through Jan. 13, 2008.
The 1,000 square foot Tinkerer’s Workshop is the newest permanent exhibit at ACM. Children ages 5-11 can design, build, invent and test their own creations using K’Nex®, electrical circuits, Legos®, inspiring design materials, tools and much more. This space allows kids to build creative problem solving and critical thinking skills through the engineering design process. ”What a child makes isn’t as important as the thinking that goes on in the process,” said Becky Jones, Director of Education at ACM.
It’s a Nano World Exhibit Components
Powers of Ten Film: Take a head-spinning imaginary trip from life scale, to outer space, into the atoms inside the hand and back again.
How Many Nanometers Tall are You?: Measure your height in nanometers!
Giant Magnifying Glass: Get a big head looking through two giant magnifying lenses.
Cell Sorters: Place your hand into a glove box and use special tools to separate “cells”.
Magnification Station: Table-top station with magnifying glasses and microscopes of varying strengths along with bins of different kinds of things to look at.
Scope on a Rope: See your skin, hair and clothing 200 times larger than life.
Cells in Action Video Theater: Visit the world of moving cells in a theater environment.
What’s my Job?: Match different types of cells, germs, and DNA with what they do.
How Big Am I ?: Compare the size of blood cells, a girl, a shoe, DNA and an elephant.
Adventures in Tiny Things: Three pinball machines represent the possible journeys taken by dust, pollen, and germs.
Giant Blood Drop: Jump into a pit of red and white blood cells (red balls and white sponges) within a drop of blood (a red tent!).
Scale Gallery: Try to identify familiar objects in a series of highly magnified photographs.
It’s a Nano World is a traveling exhibit created by the Nanobiotechnology Center at Cornell University and Sciencenter of Ithaca, New York through a grant from the National Science Foundation. Local presentation is funded in part by Encore Medical Corporation, the City of Austin through the Cultural Arts Division by a grant from the Texas Commission on the Arts and National Endowment for the Arts.
Tinkerer’s Workshop Exhibit Components
Exploration Stations: Experiment with electrical circuits, color and light, and making things move with gears, pulleys and springs.
Design and Modeling Center: Capture your design concept using a variety of materials and tools.
Building Stations: Build your idea using K'Nex®, Legos® and real hardware like pegboard squares, nuts, bolts, wheels, hinges and pulleys.
Testing Centers: Try out your invention using ramps, air blowers, timers and scales.
Pig Parachute Drop Tower: After you've assembled your parachute, test it at this tower with pulley, drop and release mechanism.
Video Diary: Record your invention story at this video kiosk to remain on display at ACM.
Tinkerer’s Workshop was developed by the Austin Children’s Museum with support from Silicon Labs and is funded in part by the City of Austin through the Cultural Arts Division by a grant from the Texas Commission on the Arts and National Endowment for the Arts.
ABOUT ACM
The mission of Austin Children's Museum is to create innovative learning experiences for children and families that equip and inspire the next generation of creative problem solvers. Located at the Dell Discovery Center downtown at the corner of 2nd Street and Colorado, the Austin Children's Museum is one of the city’s popular cultural attractions with 200,000 visitors annually. The Austin Children's Museum is a non-profit 501c3 organization and all donations are tax deductible to the extent allowed by law. For more information on the exhibits and programs at the Austin Children’s Museum, visit www.austinkids.org or call 512-472-2499.
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Museum staff available for interviews.