The sixth grade’s trip to the Tech Museum was miraculous! There were all sorts of very famous inventions, such as a photo-machine that “switches faces,” a computer-based roller coaster designer, and a special station that simulated “riding” the roller coaster you had designed. If you love science and inventing, you’re guaranteed to love the Tech Museum, too!

When the classes walked in, they were greeted by Tech Museum staff members and given “Tech Tags” to scan at the exhibits. The “Tech Tag” will activate the exhibits you want to use and it records information about what you did, as well as sometimes taking your photo.  Next, the classes had to leave all their lunches in a big room, because they were going to do lab experiments first!  Quickly, each class lined up and followed their Lab Instructor to the downstairs Labs!

Our classes were lucky to get the “Physics of Roller Coasters Lab,” where students work in teams to design and build model roller coasters!  Students really enjoyed this activity.  “The fun part was that you could make your own track and test it out.  And if it didn’t work you could do it all over again!,” said Don Tran.  “It was really fun because we got to build the roller coaster ourselves and work with different people,” Charlene Khuu commented.

After the labs, all three classes ate their lunches together in the big room, and then spent the last 90 minutes exploring the museum and the beauty of science. Sarah Phung said, “The Earthquake Simulator was intense!  It’s one of my favorite exhibits!”  Phat Pham explained, “There’s also a cool exhibit where you get to ride a model of an astronaut jet pack.  You have to match a laser beam to a spot of light.  It’s really difficult, but it’s good fun!”  Some groups also made a visit to the “Tech Shop” where they had lots of different science items, shirts, books, and toys for sale.

Finally, the FMSD school buses came to take us home, but we hope we can visit the Tech Museum again sometime!