Chicago’s Museum of Science and Industry houses 5.6 hectares — that’s more than seven soccer fields — of hands-on exhibition space. One of the museum’s permanent exhibitions is Science Storms, which teaches visitors basic physics and chemistry by recreating weather phenomena, like the avalanche pictured above, on a smaller scale.
To illustrate the larger scale, the museum established Earth Revealed. Using computers and video projectors along with National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and NASA data sets, the exhibition generates a revolving globe that displays planet Earth as a living system in real time.
Beth Boston, a spokeswoman for the museum, said that by providing exhibitions such as Science Storms and Earth Revealed, the museum “hopes to inspire children to achieve their full potential in the sciences.”
Smart Home: Green + Wired is the museum’s newest exhibition. Through guided tours of the “green” home, it provides environmentally friendly ideas for living and decorating. The Museum of Science and Industry offers podcasts from the experts behind these exhibitions, in addition to more traditional educational experiences such as field trips, lectures and science demonstrations.