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A Day at the New York Hall of Science

An Academy intern shares her experience visiting the impressive facility, which focuses on various engaging aspects of science.

Published January 31, 2005

By Rebecca Wroblewski
Academy Contributor

Image courtesy of ajay_suresh/Flickr via CC-BY-2.0.

The New York Hall of Science is a great place to visit and has activities for visitors of all ages. You enter the Hall through a light and pretty white space and the further in you get, the darker it gets—just like I would imagine space to be. The first thing I did was to go to “Marvelous Molecules: The Secret of Life” on the lower floor. This is a hands-on exhibit exploring the shared chemistry of all living things and contains many different hands-on activities, including a 35-foot long giant model of a glucose molecule.

One exhibit I liked was “How Many Molecules Are You?” where you can guess how many and what kind of molecules we are made of such as carbohydrates, fats, proteins and water. It’s hard to imagine that humans have a similar molecular make up to a vegetable like broccoli, or something as small as a cockroach or even as big as an elephant.

You can also visualize molecules by either copying ones that are on display or creating your own building your own using plastic models. The older students seemed to enjoy the whole molecular exhibit and it was probably helpful to physically see the molecule models. While the younger students (below age 9) probably just enjoyed learning how humans are similar to elephants.

Body Heat, Biochemistry, and Bread

The “Body Heat” exhibit was also a great hit with all visitors—and especially me! An infrared camera in front of a display mapped the “hot zones” on our body. I thought it was a good way to understand that body heat is a form of energy output, and our bodies give out excess energy in the form of heat as we digest food. You can even take home a color print of your own infrared body image—a lasting memory!

Later in the day, I attended the Pfizer Foundation Biochemistry Discovery Lab and got interesting answers to the questions such as, “Where do flower colors come from?”, “How do antacids work?” and “Why is the ocean foamy?” This is the first hands-on lab that is open to the public and devoted entirely to biochemistry in the world. In the lab, you’ll learn about the science in everyday life—from things found in nature to what’s in your lunchbox. For instance, discover what chemical reaction creates the holes in bread, how cheese is made, or why some foods are sour.

A family or small group can gather around one of the tables in the lab and use the materials and pictorial instructions to do their own experiment. Each experiment takes about 10-15 minutes. Children seemed to like the fact that they get the answers to their questions by doing the activities, but to really get the most of the activity and science content, one should read the description book carefully. However, this may limit your time getting to the other experiments. Children ages 7 and older were at the lab, but I think it would have been more enlightening for students who had some basic science knowledge and perhaps might be more suitable for those 12 and up.

Sports Meets Science

From the Discovery Lab, I went on into the Great Hall. The Great Hall is an amazing space with a high ceiling and a blue streak of lighting. This is where sports meet science. You can try surfing—actually you stand on a surfboard that simulates the experience of real waves and learn the role balance plays in surfing—but the great thing is you don’t get wet!

Or if you are a baseball fan, you can learn how the size, shape and weight of a ball will make a difference as you try throwing different kind of balls. A machine will even measure your pitch speed. If you’re with a friend, I suggest trying the wheelchair race challenge—and learn about the physics and aerodynamics of the standard wheelchair and a sleek racing wheelchair.

The Must-Sees

If you only have a couple of hours, I would recommend you to go into the Pfizer Foundation Biochemistry Lab and try the Sports Challenge in the Great Hall. For younger children, try the Preschool Discovery Place. A superb resource at the Hall are the explainers or people at the museum who can assist you with answering all your questions and everything else that has to do with an exhibit or the museum. This was one of the best things I have ever seen in a museum or science center.

You learn so much more by being able to ask questions, instead of just assuming that you’ll remember what you read as a reason for a chemical reaction to happen.

Also read: High Temps Call for High-Tech Edutainment


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Academy Communications Department
This article was written by a member of the Academy Communications team.