Since the turn of the twentieth century, audiences have been amazed by the technical and artistic marvel that is motion pictures. The very first movies were live-action, but it wasn’t long until artists started bringing their drawings to life in animated shorts and films.

Let’s learn about why we see animation, how computer science plays a big part in some of your favorite movies, and how to make our own Victorian animation device, a zoetrope!

As part of our 2020 celebration of women in STEM—funded, in part, by the Association for Science & Technology Centers’ and Lyda Hill Philanthropies’ If/Then initiative—we are focusing in early September on the joys of engineering! On August 30 we premiered a video on Facebook, in which members of our Education team discuss engineering, machine basics, and how to bring STEM into your own home with materials that you already have handy.

Now we’re handing over the reigns to you, our visitors…Watch the video presentation here (in case you missed it on 8/30), then read on for details on how to submit your own entry in our 2020 Rube Goldberg Machine DIY Challenge! Three winning teams (divided by age group) will win a family membership to the Discovery Center.

We’re spending this week looking at planets! Today, we’ll learn a little about the development of models of the solar system and Kepler’s Laws of Planetary Motion, and then we’ll simulate how planets move around the Sun by making our own gravity well.

This week we’re looking at different aspects of flight and ways that we can explore those at home.

Like most animals, birds have evolved so that their bodies match their behavior—flying birds have hollow bones and light beaks, rather than heavy, bony jaws, to reduce weight, powerful wing muscles to create thrust in flight, and lightweight, smooth feathers to reduce drag. But birds come in all shapes and sizes, and each species of flying bird has specific adaptations for the type of flight they do most.

Today, learn about how different wing shapes affect how a bird flies and then make a flapping bird puppet to simulate how a bird’s wings move through the air!

Using a few office supplies and recyclables, we can simulate the physics required to land on the Moon. So here’s this week’s STEM challenge: using three index cards, two pieces of cardboard (each about 4 inches by 5 inches), some tape, and a small cup (you can make this yourself, if necessary), create a landing module that will safely land an astronaut (here, represented by a marshmallow, ping pong ball, or other small, light object) on another planet.

Dreaming of summer trips to the beach? This week we’re exploring different aspects of aquatic systems.

We need to give our fish enough weight so that it will sink more into the water of its tank, but not so much that it’s stuck on the bottom. Help your pet fish while learning about neutral buoyancy in this hands-on STEM challenge!

In today’s Distance Learning Module, we explored the idea of microgravity and learned that scientists simulate this environment on Earth to help astronauts train for spacewalks. Follow up to the lesson with this all-ages activity, in which we create a “weightless” freefall with water. (Best performed outdoors—this will be messy!)

Blowing bubbles is a fun and simple activity for all ages. You dip a wand in bubble solution, blow through it, and create little spheres of soapy water. But have you ever thought about why bubbles are spherical?

Let’s explore the science and math behind bubbles!

Learn how different colors interact with heat in this simple solar-powered activity!

This activity is geared toward elementary-level learners, but can easily scale up or down depending on existing science knowledge. Younger children may appreciate performing the experiment with less emphasis on the background and concluding information, while older students may choose to supplement this lesson with in-depth research on wavelengths and energy.

There are plenty of ways to crush a can using your own strength, but you can give your muscles a break and let physics do the work for you. Let’s collapse a can using only water, heat, and a physical phenomenon!

Adult supervision is a must for this activity!

Have you seen the wave pendulum at the Discovery Center? It features golf balls hung from different length strings, and when you pull all the balls back at the same time, they swing back and forth at different rates. As they swing, they seems to form a wave shape. The way it works is almost like magic, but there’s no witchcraft involved—just physics! Since we can’t go to the Discovery Center’s wave pendulum right now, let’s make our own to play with at home!

This activity takes a bit of finesse and care to get right—good for older learners!

Have you ever seen the big Newton’s Cradle at the Discovery Center? Today we’re bringing the museum to you, with a virtual exhibit! Get up close and personal with the conservation of momentum and energy in this video demo.

Part of the beauty of Calder’s mobiles is the serenity in the balance of each of the metal shapes. The visual harmony of his sculptures is the result of both Calder’s artistic vision and a basic geometric property of any object—center of gravity. Let’s use the property of center of gravity to create our own mobile like Alexander Calder!