Ancient Egypt & Its Art

Students tour the Ancient Egypt Gallery, learn an intricate, age-old metalworking technique, and then create an ancient Egyptian-inspired relief, which they can take home. Includes tour of the Ancient Egypt Gallery.

Layered Experience: Pairs well with Mummies: Secrets of the Pharaohs (Planetarium Show) and Forensic Crime Lab (Class).

Beetles, Bugs, & Butterflies

This artful approach to science motivates students to explore the amazing world of insects while learning about adaptations, physiology, and the role insects play in their daily lives. Colorful, take-home art projects creatively reinforce scientific concepts.

Layered Experience: Pairs well with The Traveling Trunk Show (Interactive Educational Theater) and Flight of the Butterflies (Planetarium Show).

Bright Light

In this illuminating exploration of light and color, students make exciting discoveries as they experiment with lasers, diffraction glasses, and giant water prisms. Through real-life applications, the scientific concepts of refraction, diffraction, and reflection are illustrated with engaging educational activities related to spectrum analysis and the electromagnetic spectrum.

Layered Experience: Pairs well with Harmonies in Color (Art Exhibition Guided Tour or Exploration), Seeing!, and Cosmic Colors: An Adventure Along the Spectrum (Planetarium Shows).

Engineering Encounters

Through bridge-building activities, students gain a new appreciation for the relevance of civil engineering and design in their daily lives. Creative problem-solving strategies motivate aspiring engineers to explore concepts such as force, balance, and stability.

Layered Experience: Pairs well with Dream Big: Engineering Our World (Planetarium Show), and Robot Design Challenge (Class).

Forensic Crime Lab

Students analyze and interpret evidence to identify the victim and the perpetrator at a staged crime scene. They reach their conclusions by using chromatography, forensic entomology, blood typing, skeletal identification, and other means of discovery. This class requires the participation of at least six chaperones willing to serve as “forensic assistants.”

Layered Experience: Pairs well with Ancient Egypt Gallery (Guided Tour or Exploration), Mummies: Secrets of the Pharaohs (Planetarium Show), and Ancient Egypt & Its Art (Class).

Investigating the Art Exhibition

Inspired by objects and works of art in the current exhibition, students will explore interdisciplinary connections based on the Louisiana Student Standards. After a participatory tour of the exhibition, they will enjoy hands-on, STEAM-focused activities in a classroom setting. Creative connections that link art with core curriculum content will make learning meaningful, relevant, and memorable. Includes tour of the art exhibition on view.

NEW for 2019-2020!

Journaling: Learning to Look & Looking to Write

As students explore the art in the current exhibition, they are encouraged to look closely and reflect on what they see. Creative writing activities take place in the gallery, using the art on view for inspiration. These activities will sharpen observation skills as students respond to art through writing while exploring opportunities for collaboration and personal reflection. Includes tour of the art exhibition on view.

Little Art Explorers

Students learn how artists use shapes and colors to create art with inspiration from Henri Matisse and Jacob Lawrence. Young artists use their imaginations and creative skills to make their own original collages. Following a discussion of the color wheel, students get hands-on with fun color mixing activities.

Updated for 2019-2020!

Robot Design Challenge

Students sharpen their critical thinking and problem- solving skills to build modular robots. Working in teams, they will use the Science and Engineering Practices to develop inventions that sense, compute, and act upon the world around them. As students design their robots, they actually build a program through hands-on coding. This class culminates in a race that challenges each group to create the smartest and fastest robot.

Layered Experience: Pairs well with Dream Big: Engineering Our World (Planetarium Show) and Engineering Encounters (Class).

The Art of Astronomy

Science inspires art and art empowers science as students investigate the characteristics and composition of planets, stars, and deep-sky objects. Inquisitive learners will use the elements of art to connect Astronomy and Earth Science concepts.

Layered Experience: Pairs well with Earth, Moon, & Sun, Magic Tree House Space Mission, and Ventures through Our Solar System (Planetarium Shows).

NEW for 2019-2020!