Learning Labs
Learning Labs are facilitated, focused, hands-on learning experiences for school groups. They are multi-disciplinary and aligned with Illinois Learning Standards.
Students in the Testing the Waters lab complete an activity. Learning Lab Guides provide vocabulary, pre- and post-visit activities and additional resources to enhance each lab.
Learning Labs are offered from September 13, 2011 through June 8, 2012. Please contact us if you need to accommodate students with special needs such as learning ability, language or physical ability.
Learning Lab Schedule
Learning Labs are offered on Tuesday through Friday at 10:15 a.m. and 11:45 a.m. except:
ER/OR: Tuesday and Thursday only
Heart Surgery 101: Tuesday only
Life Begins: Tuesday only
Submarine: 10 a.m. only Tuesday through Friday
Download a brochure
More information
Learning Labs
- Charge! Electromagnetism at Work
- Explore the connection between electric and magnetic fields by experimenting with magnets, circuits and more.
- 4th - 6th grade
- City Science: Building Bridges
- Learn about the basics of structural design as you design, build, and test bridges and explore potential careers.
- 4th - 8th grade
- Colorful Chemistry
- See what happens when you mix chemicals and add some heat.
- 4th - 8th grade
- ER/OR
- Explore medical careers and cutting-edge medical technologies by "training" as a resident.
- 7th - 9th grade
- Evidence Lab
- Use hands-on forensic science techniques to analyze DNA, bullets, blood spatter and trace evidence to solve a crime.
- 9th - 12th grade
- Heart Surgery 101
- Learn about careers in the OR and handle real surgical tools in a facilitated discussion featuring a pre-recorded session of open heart surgery.
- 7th - 12th grade
- Life Begins: Puberty, Reproduction & Prenatal Development
- Get an overview of reproduction, fetal development and the birth process from a trained health educator. Tuesdays only.
- 5th grade
- Live ... from the Heart
- Go live into the operating room via interactive videoconference to talk with a surgical team as they perform a bypass procedure.
- 9th - 12th grade
- Moving With Newton
- Experience Newton's three laws of motion through hands-on activities.
- 4th - 8th grade
- Museum Crime Lab
- Solve a crime at the Museum using fingerprint analysis, chromatography, white powder analysis and microscopy techniques.
- 4th - 8th grade
- Renewable Energy: Cars of the Future
- Make solar cars and hydrogen fuel cell cars to see how renewable energy resources work.
- 6th - 10th grade
- Simple Machines
- Learn about the energy and work behind simple machines by competing in a challenge using pulleys, levers, inclined planes and more.
- 3rd - 6th grade
- Submarine Lab
- Tour the historic submarine, participate in hands-on activities and explore the science and history behind the U-505.
- 4th - 7th grade
- Testing the Waters
- Explore the watershed and use environmental science methods to determine the quality of Chicago-area water samples.
- 4th - 8th grade
- Happening Now
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MythBusters: The Explosive Exhibition
Try your hand at busting or confirming myths in wildly entertaining experiments.
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Rocky Mountain Express
Jump onboard this journey through the Canadian Rockies by train!
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Tornado Alley
Ride along with researchers of VORTEX 2 to hunt for some of nature's most destructive storms.
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- Coming Soon
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Born To Be Wild
Journey to Borneo and Kenya with wildlife teams rescuing endangered elephants and orangutans.
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Member Day Trip: From Sidewalks to Skyscrapers
Learn how to design buildings that withstand the forces of wind, fire and earthquakes.
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Family Snoozeum Night
Join us for a special Snoozeum open to families with children ages 6-12.
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New Online Activities
- Online Activity
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Habitat Overcrowding
See what happens when plants compete for survival in an area with limited resources.
- Online Activity
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Straw Bridges
Tap into your inner engineer as you design, build and test model bridges.
- Online Activity
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What Goes Around
Create a traveling circulatory system to learn how blood flow and nutrient exchange happens.














