The Exploratorium is an experimental, hands-on museum designed to spark curiosity. One problem: it’s in America. However, its website www.exploratorium. com contains online versions of exhibits and tells teachers how to recreate other models in the classroom.
The Science Snacks section gives teachers step-by-step instructions explaining how to conduct experiments that will answer questions such as: why is the sky is blue and the sunset red?; how do ice skaters, divers, and gymnasts get themselves spinning and twisting faster?; why do phone calls not leak out of optical fibres?; and how do you make a magnetic field stronger than the Earth’s?
Other sections of the website allow youngsters to find out the science behind their favourite sports: skate boarding, surfing and cycling. They can also learn more about how the eye works by watching a teenager, armed with a scalpel, dissect a cow’s eye.
