The Amazing Machine Experience
Amazing Machine Experience
Available Tuesday and Thursday, $14 per student (including IMAX) and $3 per chaperone, or $12 per student and free for chaperones without the IMAX. Includes admission to all exhibits except Real Pirates and The Chronicles of Narnia: The Exhibition.
(Minimum 30 students)
Amazing Machine
This newest Franklin exhibit invites students into a bright, machine-like room highlighted by three awesome kinetic mechanical art installations, little-seen pieces from The Franklin’s renowned science collection (including the 1810 Maillardet automaton and 17th and 18th century clock movements), and the glint of largely metal interactive stations designed to reveal what’s really happening inside machines.
This engaging exhibit will help students understand that the machines are controlled systems built with universal components like gears, springs, cams, pulleys, linkages and screws. Everyday machines will be displayed in “exploded” views. Their parts, separated and visible, allow a bird’s eye view of the interior of such workhorses as the household vacuum cleaner, power drill and thermostat. Interactive stations invite students to experience different power sources and learn about different kinds of controls.
Live Shows and Hands-On Workshops
Motion and Machines Show
Live Shows 25 minutes; Workshops 45 minutes.
An object does not have to be very complicated to be a machine—it just needs to perform work. Explore the concept of work and the basic physics of motion as various simple machines are put into action in this interactive show. Your students will roll, slide, pull, and lift as they use such devices as the lever, pulley, and wheel & axle. Content will be adjusted for age-appropriated learning experiences.
Amazing Machine Workshops
Introduce your class to engineering with these hands-on workshops. Students will be able to list general steps of the engineering process, think critically about the importance of machines to our lives, and use their knowledge of simple and compound machines to design their own Rube Goldberg device. Each workshop is appropriately designed for the designated age group.
Grades 3–5
Give your students the opportunity to be engineers! In this workshop they will use creativity and teamwork to design and create a three-step machine, learning about compound machines and how to plan a design in the process.
Grades 6–8
Your students will have a blast making their own inventions to solve a design challenge! They will apply the design process and work collaboratively to create a machine of five (or more) components.
Grades 9–12
Learning important engineering skills such as understanding the problem, creating and selecting concepts, and design details, students will work together to design and create a Rube Goldberg machine that includes at least ten steps.
Tuttleman IMAX Theater
Grand Canyon Adventure: River at Risk
For complete Planetarium show listing see Grand Canyon
Adventure.