Day School’s field trip at SEE
I am Jaclyn Chuah, summer intern at SEE. I am new and I had the opportunity to see the school programs offered by SEE for the first time last week. I followed the Day School’s field trip on June 13th. They had one hundred and thirty six third-graders who were split up into three groups. They were well behaved and listened to the instructions. But from the moment when they first set foot into SEE, they looked at all the interesting science exhibits with amazement.
Our first stop was the LEGO Millyard Program. SEE Staff explained the LEGO® Millyard Project while students paid full attention and were actively engaged. Students then built their own LEGO® model and went on a scavenger hunt. During the scavenger hunt, students were excited to search for the “hidden” items in the LEGO Millyard Project. Students learned about the resources needed to run the Millyard in the past and compared them to current resource use, which has become more advanced due to the modern technologies.
Our next stop was the Tour of the Science Center combined with our SEEmobile show. Students got to explore experiments on electricity, combustion, and chemical reactions. The demonstrations were very engaging and visual. Students observed and reasoned the causes and effects during those experiments. I truly enjoyed hearing the laughter and seeing how daring the kids were to try things for themselves especially during the experiment on static electricity. I couldn’t help but laugh myself when I saw the kids’ reaction when their hair stood on end!
Students then explored and tried out SEE’s exhibits. They asked probing scientific questions as their curiosity grew after observing and using the exhibits. Their questions were mainly related to physics, such as momentum, inertia, and gravity. I was amazed as to how the SEE staff explained the physics related to the outcomes at the exhibits in a way the kids could fully understand.
Last but not least was every student’s most favorite stop- the Slimy Science hands-on lab because they got to make and take home silly putty. This lab definitely helps to enhance students’ creativity, concentration, and observation skills. You could hear excitement and anticipation in the kids’ conversation with their friends throughout this activity. The teachers took pictures and recorded videos throughout the day to capture how interested and excited their students were at SEE. Everyone left for home with a big, wide smile on their faces.
I am originally from Malaysia and the science museum in Malaysia was very different compared to SEE. The exhibits are all merely about the history of Science and they do not provide interesting programs like the ones we do at SEE, such as the Family Workshops, field trip and summer programs, and the amazing science exhibits that we could actually try them out! It was a great day joining the field trip with the kids.
SEEing them happy made me even happier!