Home School Workshop Programs at Liberty Science Center | Kids Out and About Fairfield County, CT <

Home School Workshop Programs at Liberty Science Center


*The event has already taken place on this date: Tue, 06/12/2018
Liberty Science Center offers Home School Workshops for families who wish to supplement their science curriculum with an inquiry-based, hands-on adventure that will foster children's curiosity. Our homeschool sessions are divided into three groups: Adventurers (ages 4-7), Investigators (ages 8-11), and Specialists (ages 12-14).

Please help us keep this calendar up to date! If this activity is sold out, canceled, or otherwise needs alteration, email mindy@kidsoutandabout.com so we can update it immediately. If you have a question about the activity itself, please contact the organization administrator listed below.

 

Reservations are required for these programs. Please call our Reservations Department at 201.253.1310 or email sales@lsc.org.

The program is structured in such a way that families with multiple children of different ages can have a shared, age-appropriate educational experience. We unify the experience each month by celebrating a different scientist. The whole group comes together to learn more about the person and their scientific contributions before breaking out into smaller, age-focused groups for hands-on inquiry.

Schedule

9:45 - 10:00 am – Arrival and check-in
10:00 - 10:45 am – Lab session begins
10:50 - 11:30 am – Break for exhibition floor activity, lunch
11:35 am - 12:25 pm – Lab session concludes

Please arrive a few minutes early as the programs are scheduled to start promptly at 10:00 am.


2017-18 Programs

 

October 10, 2017

 

 

 

 

Scientist of the Month: Antonie van Leeuwenhoek

Take a peek into the world of bacteria, protists, plants, and more as we highlight the "Father of Microbiology," Antonie van Leeuwenhoek.

Adventurers will observe and record animals, plants, insects, and bacteria using magnifying glasses to explore what they can see. The students will then learn how to use a microscope, which allows us to get a closer look at these little things.

Investigators will learn how the properties of light (reflection and refraction) play a role in the function of a microscope. The students will then learn how to use a microscope to observe features of bacteria, protists and plants and more.

Specialists will explore how the properties of light and shapes of lenses play a role in the function of a microscope. The students will then work together and go through the Engineering Design Process to assemble and disassemble a microscope.

November 14, 2017

Scientist of the Month: Daniel Rutherford

Learn more about nitrogen, the most abundant gas in our atmosphere, in this hands-on lab that celebrates the chemist who discovered it, Daniel Rutherford.

Adventurers will explore the importance of nitrogen for living things, the food they eat and how nitrogen travels in the world around us. They will then explore how nitrogen is used today by making some liquid nitrogen ice cream.

Investigators will conduct a variety of hands-on experiments to identify how much of our atmosphere is composed of nitrogen. Afterwards, they will join the rest of their fellow homeschoolers in an activity to make some liquid nitrogen ice cream.

Specialists will investigate an exchange of thermal energies within a closed system. They will then analyze collected data to determine the amount of energy released within the closed system. Afterwards, they will join the rest of their fellow homeschoolers in an activity to make some liquid nitrogen ice cream.

December 12, 2017

Scientist of the Month: Johannes Kepler

Learn about the laws of planetary motion as we celebrate German mathematician and astronomer, Johannes Kepler.

Adventurers will start by defining gravity and volume. They will then build models of the planets in our solar system and observe how these planets move in an elliptical orbit to reflect on Kepler’s first law of motion.

Investigators will delve into the math behind Kepler’s second law of motion. Investigators will calculate the area of a triangle, discuss the parts of an ellipse, and even draw a giant one.

Specialists will observe how the shape and period of a planet orbiting a star depends on a star’s mass and that of a planet. Students will explore this phenomena by making models of various planetary systems.

January 9, 2018

Scientist of the Month: Will Wright

Learn about building and caring for our world as we celebrate Will Wright, the game designer behind The Sims.

Adventurers and Investigators will work together in this month’s program to invent recycle city, a thriving metropolis made entirely out of everyday, recyclable materials.

Specialists will take video game design into their own hands. Using Bloxels, a new hands-on platform for video game creation, specialists will create their own video game levels, characters and challenges!

February 13, 2018

Scientist of the Month: Thomas Alva Edison

Examine the science behind electricity as we study the important work of Thomas Alva Edison, the Wizard of Menlo Park.

Adventurers will explore the definition of electricity and discover how it works through building a variety of simple circuits. Afterwards, adventurers will explore things that are conductive or insulative to help them build a light bulb circuit model.

Investigators will observe how plasma is created through the movement of electrons with the help of our Van De Graaff generator. Afterwards, investigators will apply their understanding of electricity to create unique, hand-drawn circuits with circuit scribe.

Specialists will learn how to solder a simple circuit with a vibration motor to make their own Buzzbot. They will then race the Buzzbot to see how it behaves.

March 13, 2018

Scientist of the Month: Valentin Tereshkova

Explore the engineering design process as we try to build the perfect parachute for Valentin Tereshkova, whose career as an astronaut started with her prestigious parachuting skills.

Adventurers and Investigators will work together during this month’s program to explore the concept of gravity. Adventurers and Investigators will practice following the steps of the Engineering Design Process to then build a paper helicopter and design the perfect parachute.

The Specialists will explore and experiment with the forces that govern the motions of flight. They will then create their own gliding mechanism using the Engineering Design Process.

April 10, 2018

Scientist of the Month: Jane Goodall

Step into the shoes of primatologist Jane Goodall as we learn about ourselves and our evolution through observing LSC’s cotton-top tamarin monkeys.

Adventurers and Investigators will once again work together in this program to observe, compare and contrast our behaviors and features of other primates including the cotton-top tamarins.

The Specialists will measure several parts of a primate skull to observe and determine the relationships to each other. Students will then observe and note the human and animal behaviors to study their similarities and differences by watching guests at LSC and our cotton-top tamarins.

May 8, 2018

Scientist of the Month: Rachel Carson

From climate change to alternative energy, we will be answering the hard questions asked by ecologist Rachel Carson as we celebrate the living world that she worked so hard to preserve.

Adventurers will meet a variety of live animals from insects to reptiles as they identify the things organisms need to grow and survive in their natural world. Adventurers will then investigate what might happen if their habitats disappear.

Investigators will build an ecosystem model to work their way through the trophic levels. Afterwards, investigators will identify how bioaccumulation and climate change affect the natural world around us.

June 12, 2018

Scientist of the Month: Katherine Johnson

Explore the science behind rockets as we celebrate Katherine Johnson, the NASA mathematician who calculated John Glenn’s space mission by hand. It’s sure to be a blast!

Adventurers and Investigators will revisit the Engineering Design process here to develop a rocket they can keep. These homeschool friends will plan, build and test a variety of designs as they blast their way into the summer!

The Specialists will review the forces of flight and explore the chemistry behind rocket fuels. They will then construct their own rockets and test them for aerodynamic behaviors.


*Times, dates, and prices of any activity posted to our calendars are subject to change. Please be sure to click through directly to the organization’s website to verify.

Location:

222 Jersey City Blvd
Jersey City, NJ, 07305
United States

Phone:

(201) 200-1000
Contact name: 
Elizabeth Romanaux
Email address: 
The event has already taken place on this date: 
06/12/2018
Time: 
10 am - 12:30 pm
Price: 
call

Ages

4-5 years 6-8 years 9-12 years Teenagers