About Discovery Museum

Discovery Museum is a hands-on museum for families that blends science, nature, and play. The museum and its Discovery Woods accessible outdoor nature playscape and 550-square-foot treehouse blend the best of STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and Math) learning on a beautiful 4.5-acre campus in Acton, MA, about 20 miles west of Boston. Originally founded in 1982, the museum was expanded and completely renovated in 2017. Hands-on, playful exhibits developed by professional educators inspire curiosity, exploration, and imagination, providing a fun and engaging experience for children and adults to discover their world together. Serving families and schools from towns throughout the region, the museum is devoted to informal education that enhances classroom learning. Discovery Museum is committed to accessibility, and is a proud recipient of the 2017 Massachu-setts Commonwealth Award, the only winner in the Access category.

For more information, please visit

www.discoveryacton.org

Teacher Guide Field Trips to the Discovery Museum

Mar2018 Photos: ©Mitchell Green, ©Erin Ash Sullivan, staff photos

Our Philosophy

We focus on the development of skills that will help

kids be successful: exploration and experimentation,

persistence and resilience, the ability to understand

their emotions and the emotions of others around

them. Today's kids need to grow up to be confident

risk-takers and effective problem-solvers. They'll

need to understand the impact they have on

others and find ways to communicate with all

types of people.

We believe in play as the way that children learn.

In our case, it is play in both a STEAM-rich

environment and in a natural and inviting outdoor

experience. Children are the most natural science

learners. Given the slightest encouragement they

will ask a myriad of questions. If you surround

children with stimulating materials and resources,

they will follow their natural instincts to observe,

predict, and experiment—in other words, to be

scientists. Real stuff and simple materials are our

preferred tools for learning. Add curiosity,

creativity, and working together, and you have

a simple recipe for creating successful learners.

Discovery Museum. Science. Nature. Play.

Welcome! After 35 years of operation, more than 4.6 million

children and families served, tens of thousands

of memories made, and millions of hands-on STEAM-

based a-ha! moments enjoyed, the expanded,

completely renovated, fully accessible, and now

single-building Discovery Museum welcomes you

and your students.

This booklet will give you some basic information on

the exhibits and galleries. Please feel free to

reach out to us with any questions or ideas about

Field Trips here—we are happy to talk any time,

978-264-4200.

Your School Groups Team -

Becky Werner x121 Jill Foster x118

Kathie Watt x122 Cindy Matchett x115

www.discoveryacton.org

Field Trip Overview

The Discovery Museum’s exhibits are designed with you and your students’ wonder and curiosity in mind. The exhibits are open-ended and can be used and enjoyed in many ways.

Arriving: When you arrive at your appointed time, a museum Explorer will greet your bus. As every-one comes off the bus, students and chaperones should gather into their pre-assigned chaperone groups of 5 children each.

Orientation: Each child will be given an entrance sticker and then Explorers will lead small teams of three to four chaperone groups into the museum for a brief interactive orientation.

Exploring: After this orientation, each chaperone group is free to continue their exploration through the museum at their own pace. Do note the museum will be open to other families and children during your visit. Explorers will be available throughout your visit to support you and answer questions.

No

tes:

There is lots to choose from: galleries for sound, air, water, math, simple machines, and more, as well as our outdoor space, Discovery Woods.

Ending: Near the end of your visit, your chaperones will be notified and directed to a meeting point just outside the museum building for your departure. Re-entry to Discovery Woods and onto the museum gallery floors will not be possible after your exit time.

Eating: No food or drink is allowed in our museum, or in Discovery Woods. Outside picnic tables are available if you are staying for lunch. We strongly recommend that students bring a paper-bagged lunch and disposable drink if your class will be picknicking. We will provide unrefrigerated bins to store lunch bags during your visit.

—

We hope that your discoveries do not end with your visit, that you and the children are inspired to try more experiments back in the classroom. Come back to see us again too!

Discovery Museum New Exhibits

A-Mazing Airways – This 13’-foot-tall interactive

pneumatic sculpture of tubes and blowers allows

visitors to test and demonstrate the incredible power

of air. It is the only free-standing exhibit of its kind in

North America.

Sound Gallery – The fantastic properties of sound

become visible and hands-on for all. Visitors will

explore and experience sound by seeing, hearing

and feeling waves and physical vibrations.

Yes, It’s Math! – This gallery of fun, hands-on activities

uses real world, visual interpretations of math

concepts to show that math is all around us, every

day, and we are naturally good at it.

Water Gallery – Laminar Flow, Double Open Vortex,

Morphable Stream, the Coanda Effect—the scientific

principles of water are pure, wet fun through hands-on

experimentation in this all-new exhibit.

Light & Color Gallery – This visitor-favorite exhibit on the

properties of and relationship between light and color

has been reimagined and recreated using LED tech-

nology to be more vividly engaging for all.

Simple Machines Gallery – Visitors explore balls, ramps,

gears and cogs, and pulleys to see and feel how

these simple machines use mechanical advantage to

accomplish a task. Children can create and set off a

chain reaction and use gears to flap the wings of

the giant da Vinci ornithopter, a flying machine he

designed intended for human-powered flight.

No

tes:

da Vinci Workshop – Visitors can use tools, tinker,

design, build, and invent like the artist, scientist,

engineer, and inventor Leonardo da Vinci. Using

recycled materials, off-the-shelf supplies, and tools

and technology, visitors can design and build diverse

creations inspired by da Vinci’s creative thinking.

A vertical airstream allows experimentation of

aerodynamics principles and engineering concepts

with flying and hovering prototypes.

Bessie’s House – a reproduction façade of the original

Children’s Discovery Museum building is inside the

new museum, with reimagined and accessible

versions of iconic exhibits designed for early learners,

including the Train Room, Ship Room, Bessie’s Diner,

and Backyard at Night.

Community Gallery -- A 1,500 square foot open space

will allow the museum to host traveling exhibits that

complement its regular collection; it will also

accommodate large-scale, long-term visitor projects.

The museum will open with Bricks, Sticks, and Arches,

a community building project.

Also… Brain Building Together – A special space for

caregivers and their children aged birth through 3

years old to play and spend time together.

No

tes: