Science on Wheels

Available only for a Partial-Day Experience.

Radical Reactions: Heat! Light! Gas! Color change! Flames are blue and green, rainbows exist in glass tubes, and dollar bills catch fire. See our presenter throw fire, watch an ordinary Ziploc turn into an exploding yellow bag, and fall in love with the foam fountain finale in this lively yet fact-filled 40-minute live science show! Geared toward Grades 3-8.

Program requirements:

• Access to water and janitors/nonfood prep sink required
• Show must be performed inside (for fire purposes -will not work in wind)
• 12-foot ceiling height required
• Includes controlled fire demonstrations and chemical reactions

Whole-Day Experiences – Includes all three components: Assembly, Exhibits, and Hands-On Workshops

Partial-Day Experiences – Choose one component

Assembly: Test! Re-design! Learn about some of the different kids of engineers and help our presenters test a design of their own.

Interactive Pop-Up Exhibits: Connect gears, engineer bridges, and try electrical engineering in this fun exhibit set that encourages problem-solving and building skills. Available in English and Spanish.

Hands-On Workshops:

• Grades K-2: Machine Makeover, Super Structures, Radical Robots
• Grades 3-5: Bridge the Gap, Get in Gear, Radical Robots, Wired Up
• Grades 5-8: Bridge the Gap, Enviro-Sleuths, Wired Up

Paired digital Discovery Workshop

Think Like an Engineer

What do bakers, astronauts and accountants have in common? They all need to think like engineers! In fact, we all do sometimes. Connect to your Science on Wheels experience while building important skills in empathy, reflection, and collaboration. Can you use these skills to think like an engineer in a design challenge – making the perfect sweater? (Grades K-8; content adapted to fit participant age)

Whole-Day Experiences – Includes all three components: Assembly, Exhibits, and Hands-On Workshops

Partial-Day Experiences – Choose one component

Assembly: Physiology is fascinating! Delve into the human body: examine the skeletal system, plot the path of a red blood cell through the circulatory system, and mull over how messages travel through the nervous system.

Interactive Pop-Up Exhibits: Circulate among exhibits that cover an amazing body of knowledge: biology! How steady is your balance? Where is your ulna? Assemble skeletons, analyze x-rays, and scrutinize skulls. Tease your mind with optical illusions and then look inside a real human brain! This exhibit includes real organs from both humans and animals. Available in English and Spanish.

Hands-On Workshops:

• Grades K-2: Animal Adventure, Bone Zone, You’ve Got Nerve
• Grades 3-5: Bone Zone, Piece of Mind, Visual Eyes
• Grades 5-8: Main Frame, Piece of Mind, Visual Eyes

paired digital discovery workshop

System Sleuths

Discover the systems all around us as we investigate what makes something a system. Explore a real heart specimen as we uncover the innerworkings of our circulatory system parts and how they work together. Reinforce key concepts of human body systems while exploring content from your Science on Wheels visit with crosscutting concepts in mind. (Grades K-8; content adapted to fit participant age)

Whole-Day Experiences – Includes all three components: Assembly, Exhibits, and Hands-On Workshops

Partial-Day Experiences – Choose one component

Assembly: Math comes to life in this playful, interactive assembly! PacSci educators invite learners to help them explore permutations, practice spatial reasoning, and predict probably with demonstrations that show the practical–and sometimes silly–applications of math to everyday life..

Interactive Pop-Up Exhibits: Math is everywhere, from maps, to quilts, to fitting toys in a box. Observe how beautiful fractals resemble patterns in nature. Piece together puzzles, from pentominoes to 3-D buckyballs. How many ice cream flavor combinations can you make? What are the chances you will pull a matching pair of socks from a dryer? In English and Spanish

Hands-On Workshops:

• Grades K-2: Mirror Image, Sometimes Never, Big Things Little Things
• Grades 3-5: Puzzling Pentominoes, Collect All 4, Code Breakers
• Grades 5-8: Dynamic Dice, NetShape Navigator, Fabulous Fractals

Whole-Day Experiences – Includes all three components: Assembly, Exhibits, and Hands-On Workshops

Partial-Day Experiences – Choose one component

Assembly: This assembly pops with exciting and amazing demonstrations using a mystery liquid (liquid nitrogen) and a Van de Graff generator. Focus on physics as lids mysteriously pop off cans and hairdos become electrified!

Interactive Pop-Up Exhibits: It’s not magic; it’s physics! Explore amazing phenomena, from magnetism to magnification and from pendulums to periscopes. Can you overcome the strength of an electric magnet? Watt does it take to make an electrical circuit? Physics has it all: light, sound, electricity, and motion! Available in English and Spanish.

Hands-On Workshops:

• Grades K-2: Good Vibrations, Leaping Lenses, The Force
• Grades 3-5: Charged Up, Good Vibrations, Refraction Action
• Grades 5-8: Pulley Power, Refraction Action, Electric Magnets

Whole-Day Experiences – Includes all three components: Assembly, Exhibits, and Hands-On Workshops

Partial-Day Experiences – Choose one component

Assembly: Help our astronaut-in-training prepare for a trip to the moon! This assembly takes off with a mind-blowing demonstration about balloons in the vacuum of space. Contemplate the real size of the moon and investigate astronomy tools like spectroscopes and telescopes.

Interactive Pop-Up Exhibits: Explore meteorites, constellations and Jupiter’s storms. You can be an astronomer when you manipulate a robot arm or look at the surface of Mars. What would the Big Dipper look like from the other side of the universe? How much do you weigh on Venus? Find out answers to these questions and more when Space Odyssey visits you! Available in English and Spanish.

Hands-On Workshops*:

• Grades K-2: Lighten Up, Your Place in Space, Up in the Sky (In Portable Planetarium)
• Grades 3-5: Cosmic Colors, Plan It Mars, Roving Robots, Star Search (In Portable Planetarium)
• Grades 5-8: Lunar Logic, Plan It Mars, Spectacular Spectra, Roving Robots, Star Search (In Portable Planetarium)

*There are only two planetarium domes and can serve a maximum 240 students per day if the school meets the physical space requirements to host both planetariums.

paired digital discovery workshop

Starry Exploration

Get ready to blast off into the amazing world of astronomy! Discover how making observations and asking questions has expanded our understanding of the cosmos. Practice these essential skills while exploring real-world careers and building science identity in connection with the themes covered in your Science on Wheels visit.