Delaware STEM & Science Field Trips for Schools

For Kindergarten Classes:

"Weather in Your Life" - Make a weather wheel and use it to discuss weather predictions, dress a weather bear for different weather conditions, learn about the water cycle and types of weather, tour of DASEF's weather monitoring station, make weather instruments and learn what causes the wind and make a kite to keep.

"In the Sky at Night" - Learn about Earth’s movement by looking at constellations, the moon, and planets in the StarLab planetarium.

"Forces that Push and Pull" – Explore pushing and pulling forces, including connecting movable gears, making a marble roller coaster, testing cars on ramps, and assembling a 'make-and-take' climbing creature.

For First Grade Classes:

"Predictable Patterns: Sun, Moon, and Stars" - Learn about the phases of the moon, the predictable rising and setting of the sun and the moon. In the Star Lab Planetarium, learn when and why stars are visible at night, but not in the day (except for our sun), and why there are different amounts of daylight throughout the year

"Inside Plants and Animals" – Compare skeletons of different animals regarding structure and function; examine parts of a seed; study how seeds change as they grow; investigate variation in types of seeds of fruits and vegetables, and study life cycle changes of butterflies and ladybugs.

"Between and Beyond Solids and Liquids" – Make a polymer called "gluep"; use seltzer rockets to see the power of gases in action. Identify properties of solids, liquids, and gases that make each unique, and learn what they all have in common.

For Second Grade Classes:

"Bridges: Spanning with Strength" – Introduction to forces of tension and compression and how they function in bridge designs; small group problem-solving and construction challenge; presentation and testing of bridge designs; build an arch bridge using a building kit.

1st Grade Programs can be adapted for 2nd Graders

For Third Grade Classes:

"Climate: Weather or NOT?" - Learn the difference between climate and weather and how weather is predicted using weather instruments.

"Attractive Science: Magnets" – Review magnetic properties; use magnets with iron filings and paper clips to view magnetic fields, predict and test strength of attraction, the magnetic permeability of materials, and induced magnetism; magnetize nails using a cow magnet, and make an electromagnet.

For Fourth Grade Classes:

"Motion and Design: Pinball and Roller Coasters" – Review forces and Newton’s Laws of Motion; examine energy and gravitational force on falling objects; two group challenges: given materials and requirements, design and build a marble roller coaster and a pinball machine.

For Fifth Grade Classes:

"Silent Travelers: Earth, Moon, and the Planets" – Examine star “movement”, lunar phases, and our solar system in the Star Lab planetarium; design and build a lunar/planetary rover.

"Energized by the Sun" – Create a model that shows the sun as the source of the energy needed by animals to survive. Using a food web, trace the food of most animals back to plants, and show how the balance of an ecosystem can be damaged by an “invasive” species.

For Sixth, Seventh, and Eighth Grade Classes:

"Investigating Force and Motion" – Learn about Newton’s Laws of Motion, explore how inertia and momentum are related, investigate potential and kinetic energy by making a pendulum and a roller coaster.

"Investigating Near-Earth Objects" – Lunar study in Star Lab planetarium including lunar phases; comparison of earth and lunar geology; learn to identify constellations, and determine Earth’s “address” in our Solar System and the Universe.