Listed below is a brief description of each elementary (PK-5) in-person field triip being offered at the Howard B. Owens Science Center. Field trip descriptions are listed by first semester and second semester including the grade level(s) and brief summary.
Grade K—Animal Adventures: What Animals Need to Live: Join the adventure in our special Animal Exhibit room for a special adventure with our Owens animal friends. Students will observe live animals and explore what they need to survive while participating in several hands-on activities.
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Grade 1—Science Quest: First grade students practice observing as they focus on the special features of live animals and plants, while identifying how they compare (i.e.: like, but not exactly like). Visitors experience the skills of sorting, matching, drawing, manipulating, and having an option of stroking an animal, before briefly visiting our (brand new) outdoor classroom's biome! Sign-up and join in the fun! Observing young plants & animals to see if like, but not exactly like parents.
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Grade 2—Oasis in Space (Planetarium): Take a journey across Earth to explore where water can be found, as liquid or ice. Then, search the solar system for evidence of water on worlds like Mars, Europa, and even Pluto. Along the way, discover the true scale of our cosmic neighborhood—both in size and in distance.
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Grade 3—Magic Treehouse (Planetarium): Students join the brother and sister team Jack and Annie on an adventure to answer questions about space. We will collect evidence to justify a claim made in the story, identify climates on other planets, and select the best items to bring with us on a journey into outer space.
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Grade 3—Ozobot Evo Computer Science Robotics: Visiting students participating in the Science Center’s “Third Grade Ozobot Computer Science Engineering Program” will learn how to code robotic platforms using both visual color patterns and coding editors to program a miniature Ozobot robot to implement a series of fun tasks meeting specified outcome criteria. Visiting students will also learn how to evaluate and if necessary, debug their program scripts.
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Grade 4 & 5—Code Breakers: Students explore how messages can be sent and received using light and sound with a variety of materials including coding a micro:bit. They leave with an understanding of how coding patterns can transfer information in a variety of ways!
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Grade 4—Ozobot Evo Computer Science Robotics: Visiting students participating in the Science Center’s “ Fourth Grade Ozobot Evo Computer Science Engineering Program” will learn about coding robotic platforms as they use both visual and coding editors to program a miniature Ozobot robot to implement a series of fun tasks meeting specified outcome criteria. Visiting students will also learn how to evaluate and if necessary, debug their program scripts.
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Grade 4—Sensational: Here, fourth grade students ignite their curiosity as they engage in learning with toys! Science filled toys help them identify energy transferred or transformed through sound, light, heat and electrical objects! Participants engage in a group exploration, in conjunction with student-lead mini-stations. Teachers return to school with multiple take-away-student stations to continue the experience!
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Grade 4 & 5—Sensible Design: Students put their lab skills to work during this field trip exploring invertebrates responses to a variety of stimuli (light, temperature, moisture). They modify an existing apparatus to meet the criteria and then conduct an investigation. Students use a model to describe that animals receive different types of information through their senses, process the information in their brain, and respond to the information in different ways.
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Grades 5—Skywatchers of PGCPS (Planetarium): This banded program for grades 5–8 reviews key astronomy concepts, including moon phases (6th grade), eclipses (8th grade), seasons (7th grade), and how the stars’ positions change with the seasons (5th grade). Test your knowledge and deepen your understanding in the immersive environment of the planetarium—an experience no textbook can match!
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Grade PreK—Sammy’s Sky Stories (Planetarium): What’s in the sky tonight? Discover how stars can be connected to form shapes and patterns in the night sky. Join Sammy the Spider on an adventure filled with stories among the stars!
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Grade K—A Builder, That’s Me!: Without a doubt, your class will enjoy this hands-on, team-work approach to creating and building structures that this course offers! Young builders first warm-up to the idea, while engaging with attractive table objects to be constructed within a timed interval. Soon visitors graduate to taking on the responsibility of a 'student-sized structure' that protects them from the hot sun. After a class photo opt - within the structure, students return to school with an improved sense of creativity.
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Grade K—Star Safari (Planetarium): Get ready for first grade! Students embark on a fun journey through the night sky, discovering animals by both their pictures and sounds. Working in four teams, they also decide how to group the Sky Animals into their matching teams.
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Grade 1—Brighten Your Corner: During our visit expect your students to engage in science wonder as they: compare sound and vibration, do simple light tests, explore stations, sharpen their cause and effect skill sets and so much more! To further enhance your experience, receive take away materials for each student to make a small crafted music box!
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Grade 1—RoboWunderkind: Build and Code Robots: Visiting First Grade students will enjoy building and coding fabulous Robo Wunderkind robots! The students will test their built robots and then code them to perform tasks.
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Grades 1 & 2—Buildy Bots & More: First and second graders enjoy zero screen time while exploring team-building skills in one of this year’s computer science programs! Your student groups collaborate with peers, problem solve, code - using sequential steps and prepare to travel the path of an age appropriate story (book read prior to class), in this structured learning experience!
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Grade 2—You Can “Bee” a Coder and a Pollinator: Students are exposed to computation thinking with a mixture of story telling and unplugged activities using a "Bee Bot" robot. Then students apply their coding skills with the Bot to explore pollinators.
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Grade 3—Digging Into the Past: Dinosaurs may be gone but how do we know they were here? Come along as we dig into the past. Students will use real fossils and live animals to explore how fossils provide evidence that some organisms have gone extinct, and what organisms and their environments looked like long ago.
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Grades 3-5—What’s in a Smile? : Let's discover how technology sees the world through the “eyes” of a computer. As we learn about facial recognition, bias, and AI, we'll switch between activities with and without technology. We'll use the Scratch coding platform and code fun programs that can recognize a smile. You don't need any coding experience to do well!
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Grade 4—Making Sense with micro:bits: Combine your maker mindset with coding and sensors. Students use block code, micro:bits and their creativity to explore possible solutions to a variety of challenges that incorporate sensors such as temperature, light, accelerometer and touch.
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Grade 5—Understanding Our Changing Earth: Q. How is the Earth changing? Q. How do we know? Q. How will changes affect life on Earth?
One of the greatest scientific challenges facing humanity is in understanding how the Earth, the only planet that has known life, is changing and how human activities are affecting the Earth System. Through hands-on modeling experiments and a mini-field data collection mission visiting 5th grade students will explore Earth Science System science principles in the context of monitoring current climate conditions. Visiting students will be invited to continue their study back at school through participation in NASA’s GLOBE program monitoring local temperature, cloud cover and precipitation.
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