A Day at the Michigan Science Museum

This year, eighth grade has been learning about forces and Newton’s Laws of Motion. To further support students' learning about forces and Newton’s Laws of Motion, we took a trip to the Michigan Science Museum. This trip provided students with the opportunity to have more hands-on experience than they could have in a classroom lab setting and to apply their knowledge to more real-world situations.

I gave students the task of finding exhibits that demonstrated forces, such as gravitational forces and electric forces, as well as Newton’s Laws of Motion. After entering the museum, the very first exhibit that students made their way to was the “Earth. Wind. Weather.” exhibit. Students got to interact and learn about a few of nature’s awesome phenomena, such as tornadoes, avalanches, geysers, and ocean waves. Hearing students converse about the types of forces that were being exerted by each phenomenon gave me great joy.

Besides interacting with the exhibits in the museum and making connections to what they had been learning in the classrooms, students also had the opportunity to watch a live science show given by one of the museum’s scientists. One of our eighth graders was even selected to participate in the show. After the show, a few of our DAA eighth graders went up to the scientist to tell them how much they enjoyed the show. The scientist took time to chat with our DAA scholars, and he even allowed them to interact with some of the same equipment he used in the show.

Our DAA eighth grade scholars ended their trip to the Michigan Science Museum by visiting the “Towers of Tomorrow “exhibit. This exhibit showcased some of the world’s greatest structures, all made out of Legos. Students were able to build their own towers or any other creation using Legos. They then got to place their finished pieces of work on a showcase platform reserved for museum visitors.

By the end of the trip, the eighth graders had gotten plenty of hands-on experience, were able to apply their knowledge to many of the exhibits, and, as an added bonus, they were able to relax and have fun with Legos. When it was time to return to DAA, our eighth graders didn’t want to leave. I believe it’s safe to say that they truly enjoyed their time at the Michigan Science Museum.