Visiting ‘Science World’

Science World in VancouverSo, what is this ‘Science World’ all about. Well, it’s a place both for adults and children. The building was constructed in 1986, and one of the EXPO86 pavilions was located there. Later they made ‘Science World’ out of it.

I went to check it out definitely taking kids along, and believe it or not, we spent there five hours strait. There are six galleries in the ‘Science World’, and each of them is dedicated to a certain topic: light, sound, water, etc. with all the laws, which apply to them. I’d like to mention that most of the exhibits are interactive, i.e. you may play with them or make simple experiments. Take this huge waterfalls: you place a ball on top of the water, and then you follow the flow’s trajectory. Or, you can compose a melody using some sort of a device, record it, and reproduce it later. In the “Illusions” gallery you may watch the distortion of straight lines, or see how the black and white image turns into the coloured one. In the “Our World” gallery you’ll find skeletons of both animals and human beings (you can play with them!), furs. Thus, kids do learn about the anatomy and how this world came into existence. Not to mention the whole bunch of rigs, machines and devices, the usage of which I could barely understand.

The children enjoyed the ‘Science World’ very much, and it was the most important thing after all. However, do visit their web site for more info: http://www.scienceworld.bc.ca. Also, I’d like to mention that they’ve installed a new gallery: “Body Works”. There, using all kind of monitoring devices you can make experiments with and on your body, discovering its hidden capabilities, both physical and spiritual. Yet I haven’t checked it out so far.

What I could remember best of all, were thematic shows – on Electricity, Bubbles, Laws of Nature, Chemistry, etc. Each show lasts 20 minutes, and many special effects and experiments are involved. The lady guide is in charge of each show, so she’d ask kids down to assist with an experiment. My daughter had good luck – she was on stage twice (Bubbles & Electricity), and the five-year son participated in the Laws of Nature show. The guide was dropping different objects on his foot: a tennis ball, then a soccer ball followed with a basketball one. Hopefully, she didn’t drop a bowling ball on his foot. Anyway, all kids in the room learned about the law of gravitation: the heavier the object is the tougher it hits your feet, that’s for sure. As for me, I enjoyed the Bubbles show. If you add glycerine in the soap, you’ll be able to make bubbles really big, like a large cardboard box, plus you can play with their shape – make them round, rectangular, triangular, or octagon, provided you have a shape-maker at hand. If you don’t believe me, go and see the show with your proper eyes. My daughter was taking part in the experiment dealing with elastics, and the funny thing happened. Using some sort of a rubber string she launched a plush rabbit far away: it flew straight to the second level and hit one of the visitors on the head, — that woman lost her balance and fell from the banister onto the show room. Hopefully, she didn’t hit anyone, except herself… Alas, this is the price one has to pay when learning!

My son also liked the lecture on insects – we were introduced bugs, cockroaches, butterflies, ticks, etc. Then the lady guide brought a rare butterfly and a bug from their special room and let everyone play with them and pet. Wow!

If you happen to go to the ‘Science World’ you won’t notice how fast the time passes: you’ll be watching shows, making experiments and just playing in the galleries. It’s not surprising that we spent that much time there, five hours. It was hard to pull the kids off from the games. A propos, there is a huge movie room on the top level, but unfortunately it’s for extra pay. So, a ticket to Science World for an adult is CAD 11.25, from 4 to 18 — 9 bucks, and the kids under 4 are for free. I guess you know — in Canada many attractions allow kids under 4/5 for free.

And stay with Mitch

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