Call (585)697-1942 to visit any of these exhibits on a "self-guided" basis. A self-guided experience is dependent on each teacher's planning and preparation for her/his class visit.
Preview the exhibit before your visit for FREE.
Use our Curriculum Materials to assist you.
Science Exhibits
Social Studies Exhibits
Limited Time Exhibits
RACE: Are We So Different?
January 19–April 28, 2013
Recommended Grades 5,6-8,9-12
Looking through the eyes of history, science and lived experience, RACE explains differences among people and reveals the reality – and unreality – of race. The story of race is complex and may challenge how we think about race and human variation, about the differences and similarities among people.
Follow-up your visit with an optional facilitated "Conversations on Race" for no additional charge.
Request when booking.
CDOS:1,2 ; MST: 1, 4LE (2,3,7); SS: 1,2,3,4,5;
Common Core in ELA: Reading (R,CCR,7); Reading Standards for Informational Text (IR,6-12,1,2,3,6,7,8,9); Speaking and Listening (SL,CCR,1,2,3,4,6); Language (L,CCR,1,4)
Suggested Connections: Native American Environments and Cultures; The Haudenosaunee; Rochester's Underground Railroad Immersion Experience; Planetarium: Freedom Under the Stars.
Click here for details.
Educator Guide
Middle School Teacher's Guide
High School Teacher's Guide
Glossary
Bibliography
Science Exhibits
AdventureZone/Discover Our Weather
Recommended for Grades PreK-2, 3-5, 6-8, 9-12
Take a simulated voyage in Lake Ontario, operate an Erie Canal lock, experiment with weather, the water cycle, and a giant stream table! Feel the advantage of pulleys and climb into the cloud room.
CDOS: 1 ; ELA: 1 ; MST: 1(1,2),4PS(2,3,4,5),4LE(1,3,7),5(2,3,4,6) ; SS: 1,3
Suggested Connections: Animals and Plants Around Us (PreK-2), Stories in Stone (3-5), Rochester's Geology (6-9), The BUBL Project, ENERGIZE It, Object Theater: Natural Treasures, Live Science: Electricity, Liquid Nitrogen, Pressure, The Chemistry of Hydrogen, Inquiry Room: Discovering Weather; Rocks, Fossils and More; Simple Machines; Planetarium: Our Changing Seasons(PreK-2), Challenger Learning Center (5), Face of Earth (3-9)
Supporting Curriculum
ENERGIZE it
Recommended for Grades 2, 3-5, 6-8, 9-12
What is energy? Where does it come from and how do we use it? What are our energy needs going to be in the future, and what can we do to make a difference? Energy sources, forms and transformations are presented in a fully interactive setting that engages the whole body so that students can truly feel the energy required to power their world, and the choices they can make to impact the future.
Suggested Connections: AdventureZone, How Things Work, Light Here | Light Now, Raceways, Object Theater: Natural Treasures, Live Science: Electricity, Liquid Nitrogen, The Chemistry of Hydrogen, Planetarium: Fly Me to the Moon, Challenger Learning Center (5)
Click here for more information
Supporting Curriculum: COMING SOON
Expedition Earth
Recommended for Grades PreK-2, 3-5, 6-8, 9-12
Travel way back in time! Discover how earthquakes and volcanoes have helped change the land and seas, resulting in adaptation or extinction. Move forward to a mere 10,000 years ago when an immense ice sheet covered Rochester, and learn how a paleontologist uses fossil evidence to reconstruct the giants of the past. Explore the diversity of the Rochester region and learn about habitats and populations.
Object Theater: Natural Treasures
Starts every half hour; 22 minutes duration. No late entry.
Learn how, from millstones to windmills, we've harnessed the awesome power of our natural resources. Explore salt deposits, fossils and energy use through images, artifacts and music.
A: 1 ; ELA: 1,4 ; LOTE: 2 ; MST: 1(1,2,3),2(1),3(5),4PS(2,3,4,5),4LE(1,2,3,4,5,6,7),5(3),6(1,2,3,5); SS:1,3,5
Mastodoon Discovery
Suggested Connections: AdventureZone; ENERGIZE It; Native American Environments & Cultures, The Haudenosaunee, Discovery Stations: Haida Discovery, The BUBL Project; Object Theater: Natural Treasures, Inquiry Room: Insect Investigations; Rocks, Fossils and More, Discovering Weather; Planetarium: Our Changing Seasons, Cycles in the Sky, Native American Skies, Face of Earth, Challenger Learning Center.
Supporting Curriculum
How Things Work
Recommended for Grades K-2, 3-5, 6-8, 9-12
Explore the mechanisms behind everyday objects and machines. Concepts include simple and complex machines, sound, electricity and magnetism.
CDOS: 1,2 ; ELA: 1 ;
MST: 1(1,2,3),3(1,2,5,6,7),4PS(1,3,4,5),4LE(7),5(1,2,4,5,6),6(1,2,3,6),7(1);
SS: 1(3),2(3),3(1)
Suggested Connections: ENERGIZE It, Light Here | Light Now, KEVA Planks, The BUBL Project; Discovery Station: Bone, Fur, Tooth and Tool; Object Theater: Natural Treasures; Live Science: Electricity, The Chemistry of Hydrogen; Inquiry Room: Fantastic Forces; Magnet Exploration; Simple Machines; Planetarium: Solar System 2013, Challenger Learning Center
Supporting Curriculum
KEVA Planks
Recommended Grades 1-2,3-5
Blending science with art, KEVA Planks brings out the designer, architect and engineer in each of us. Precision cut, identical construction blocks, KEVA Planks stack with surprising stability. Using only gravity, students will dabble with physics in order to achieve balance, optimum proportion and a steady structure.
ELA: 1,4 ; MST: 1 (1,2), 4LE (1,3,4), 4PS (1,2)
Educator's Guide
Click here for more information.
Light Here | Light Now
Recommended for Grades K-2, 3-5, 6-8, 9-12
Get hands-on with manipulating light, color and optics. Mix subtractive and additive primary colors. Experiment with reflection and shadows.
CDOS: 1 ; ELA: 1 ; SS 1 ; MST: 1(1,2,3), 3(5,7),4PS(3,4,5),5(2,4,5,6),6(1,3,6)
Suggested Connections: ENERGIZE It; How Things Work; Planetarium: Solar System 2013, Special Presentations for Elective Classes and Science Clubs; Holiday Laser, Challenger Learning Center
Supporting Curriculum
Raceways
Recommended for Grades K-2, 3-5, 6-8, 9-12
Experiments with Newton's laws of motion have never been so fun! Send balls looping, spinning and racing over ramps.
ELA: 1; MST: 1(1,2), 3(1,5,6,7), 4PS(1,4,5), 5(1,4), 6(2,3,4,5)
Suggested Connections: ENERGIZE It; How Things Work, KEVA Planks; Inquiry Room: Fantastic Forces; Simple Machines; Planetarium: I See the Sky; Fly Me to the Moon, Cycles in the Sky, Solar System 2013, Celestial Sphere, Challenger Learning Center
Supporting Curriculum
Social Studies
At the Western Door
Recommended for Grades 3-5, 6-8, 9-12
Explore 400 years of cooperation and conflict between the Seneca and Europeans in Western New York. Experience the Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) people and culture.
A: 1,2,3,4 ; CDOS: 1 ; ELA: 1,2,4 ; LOTE: 1,2 ; MST: 4LE,5 ; SS: 1,2,3,4,5
Suggested Connections: Animals & Plants Around Us; Expedition Earth; Native American Environments & Cultures; Discovery Station: Bone, Fur, Tooth and Tool; Planetarium: Native American Skies.
Supporting Curriculum
Flight to Freedom: Rochester's Underground Railroad
Recommended for Grades 3-5, 6-8, 9-12
Immerse yourselves in re-created environments, first-person accounts, and hands-on experiences of the period leading up to the Civil War. Find out how Rochesterians fought against slavery using primary documents.
A: 1,4 ; ELA: 1,2,4 ; SS: 1,2,3,4,5
Suggested Connections: Planetarium: Freedom Under the Stars.
Supporting Curriculum
Native Peoples of the Americas
Recommended for Grades PreK-2, 3-5, 6-8
Explore the past culture of the Algonquin, Apache, Haida, Pueblo, Inuit, Haudenosaunee ("Iroquois") and Plains Indians.
A: 4 ; ELA: 1, 4 ; LOTE: 2 ; SS: 1, 3
Suggested Connections: Animals and Plants Around Us, Expedition Earth; Discovery Station: Bone, Fur, Tooth and Tool; Object Theater: Natural Treasures; Planetarium: Native American Skies
Supporting Curriculum