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
• 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: 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, Star Search (In Portable Planetarium)
• Grades 5-8: Lunar Logic, Plan It Mars, Spectacular Spectra, Star Search (In Portable Planetarium)

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.

Bring PacSci to your program site with a Summer Science Series. Our educators join your learners for four 1-hour interactive STEM workshops throughout your summer program experience over one or four weeks.

Series Formats

Each package consists of four 1-hour visits to your program site.

• 1-week series: We visit your program with a one-hour workshop daily for 4 days in the same week. Example: 1:30-2:30 p.m. July 8–11 (Monday–Thursday)
• 4-week series: We visit your program with a one-hour workshop one day per week for 4 consecutive weeks. Example: 1:30-2:30 p.m. four Mondays in August

Program Logistics

• 32 participants maximum per workshop.
  • Add a second or third sequential workshop to each program day if you have more than 32 participants!
• Programs available from: 8–11:30 a.m. or 1:30–5 p.m., Monday–Friday, June 15 to August 31.
• Available in King, Pierce and Snohomish counties only within a 1-hour drive of PacSci

Program Offerings

Phenomenal Physics – Discover how everything around us works as we dive into the science of matter and energy. Physics has it all: light, sound, electricity and motion! Available for K–2nd grade or grades 3–8.

Engineer It! – Delve into the world of invention and problem solving while exploring the knowledge, skills, and tools used to change our lives. Available for K–2nd grade or grades 3–8.

STEM Sampler – Explore the wonders of science from astronomy to electricity and from stars to sounds as our educators bring their favorite STEM workshops from across our collection. Available for K–2nd grade or grades 3–8.