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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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