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).

Engineering: Simple Machines

As they cooperatively problem-solve in groups, young engineers will investigate the effects of balanced and unbalanced forces on the motion of objects while building various machines. Exciting hands-on challenges will focus on Newton’s Laws of Motion and the Law of Conservation of Energy. Activities will illustrate the relevance of engineering in daily life as students design and build together.

Layered Experience: Pairs well with Dream Big: Engineering Our World and Secrets of Gravity: In the Footsteps of Albert Einstein (Planetarium Shows).

Flight of the Butterflies

Follow the monarchs’ perilous journey, join hundreds of millions of real butterflies in the remote mountain peaks of Mexico, and discover the compelling true story of a scientist’s 40-year search to find the monarchs’ secret hideaway in this beautiful scientific adventure.

Layered Experience: Pairs well with The Traveling Trunk Show (Interactive Educational Theater) and Beetles, Bugs, & Butterflies (Class).

Click here to access the Educator Guide!

Forces of Nature

Follow scientists on ground–breaking quests to understand what triggers earthquakes, volcanoes, and tornadoes.

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).

Geology Guided Exploration

Includes a 30-minute Solar System Gallery Guided Tour and a related 30-minute hands-on activity.

Get hands-on with geological processes and activities in the Solar System Gallery. An exhibition of minerals and fossils, including a 65-million-year-old authentic Triceratops prosus skull, will teach students about our aging planet. 

Layered Experience: Pairs well with Dinosaur Passage to Pangaea and Dinosaurs: Giants of Patagonia (Planetarium Show).

Geometry & Quilts

Through hands-on activities, students will recognize the real-world connections between mathematics and the craft of quilting. Students are introduced to traditional patchwork quilts and participate in art-making that supports geometry standards while reinforcing mathematical understanding.

Updated for 2019-2020!

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!

Jean-Michel Cousteau’s Secret Ocean

Jean-Michel Cousteau, son of ocean pioneer Jacques Cousteau, invites you to dive into this whole new world that will leave you in awe of the beauty and diversity of the oceans – the source of all life on our planet. Secret Ocean introduces audiences to over 30 species, illuminating behaviors captured for the first time thanks to new underwater filming tools.

Click here to access the Educator Guide! 

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.