Ancient Egypt & Its Art

Students tour the Ancient Egypt Gallery, learn an age-old metalworking technique, and then create an ancient Egyptian inspired relief.

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

Art Gallery Apprenticeship

After studying the concepts, materials, and processes employed by artists in the current exhibition, students return to the studio where they apply what they have learned to produce their own original masterpieces. Critical, analytical, and creative thinkig come together as students deepen their appreciation for fine art.

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 Miss Trudy’s Traveling Trunk Show (Interactive Educational Theater), Flight of the Butterflies (Planetarium Show), and Lin Emery: A Force of Nature (Exhibition Guided Tour or Exploration).

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.

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.

Exploring Abstract Art

Works by famous twentieth-century artists such as Picasso are used to introduce the concept of abstraction. Students then enjoy the creative challenge of expressing themselves through self-portraits.

Forensic Crime Lab

Students analyze and interpret evidence to identify the victim and the perpetrator at a staged crime scene. They reach their conclusions 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).

Journaling: Learning to Look & Looking to Write

Unique activities in the art galleries encourage students to investigate original works of art while exploring three types of writing: argumentative, informational/explanatory, and narrative. Students examine primary and secondary sources, learn from one another through thoughtful discussions, and participate in journaling activities.

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.

Radial Symmetry

Students are introduced to traditions in art exemplifying radial design. Memorable hands-on activities reinforce mathematical concepts and encourage students to visualize and predict reflective patterns. For the culminating project, each student builds a kaleidoscope to take back to school.