Educator How-To: Recycled Plastic Shrinky Dinks

The beginning of the school year is an exciting time for teachers and students alike. We have a quick science activity here that will engage  new students and make your room too cool appropriately cool for school: Shrinky Dinks. There are myriad of ways you can use this activity, so the application is up to […]

Educator How-To: Identifying moon phases

The moon’s appearance in the sky follows a 29.5-day cycle. During the cycle, it first appears as a crescent. The lighted portion that you can in the night sky see becomes larger as days pass, growing until you see a full moon. As more days pass, the lighted portion gets smaller again, until no moon […]

Educator How-To: Nautilus and the Golden Spiral (an approximation)

Editor’s note: In honor of our new Nautilus Live program — which takes Museum patrons to the ocean floor with telepresence technology — this month’s Educator How-To is all about the nautilus shell. From our veteran Xplorations educator Kat Havens: It is difficult to deny the beauty and perfection of the nautilus’ spiraled chambers. Many […]

Educator How-To: Create your own ancient Egyptian art using frontalism

Ancient Egyptian artists adhered to strict rules when producing works of art. The human form was depicted with the head in profile, eye drawn in full, torso forward-facing, and legs in profile — one foot in front of the other. This style, known as frontalism, gave the figures a sense of formality. Whether standing or […]

Educator How-To: Why square it when you could cubit?

The cubit was Ancient Egypt’s standard unit of measure, much like our foot or meter measurement. There were two cubit lengths in ancient Egypt: the short cubit and the royal cubit. The short cubit was the distance from the elbow to the tip of the middle finger of the pharaoh. The royal cubit was the […]

Educator How-To: Prep for Pi Day with a circle-folding exercise

Pi Day is all about circles, circumference and diameter. Pi (approximately 3.14) is delicious is the ratio of a circle’s circumference divided by its diameter. This ratio is the same for all circles. In the spirit of Pi Day, let’s see what we can do with the fabulously fun circle and what we learn along the […]


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