3rd Grade Physical Science Field Trips
Field Trips for 3rd Grade Physical Science
Forces and Interactions: Motion and Stability
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| Provider Name | Resource Link | Provider Location | Abstract |
|---|---|---|---|
| American River Water Education Center | Education Center Tour | Folsom | The history and headwaters of the American River Watershed are explored through interactive exhibits which focus on this integral part of California’s waterworks. Find out where the American River actually starts. Discover just how much water is needed to make a pair of jeans or grow a tomato. Water management and conservation are critical issues today and are stressed with fun ‘hands on’ demonstration areas and displays. A section on Folsom Dam explains why it was built, it’s dynamic history over the past 50+ years and the dam’s many uses. |
| Bay Area Discovery Museum | Discover-It-Yourself Visits | Sausalito | Exhibitions are research-backed and provide STEM-focused, inquiry-driven experiences that help children develop creativity and creative problem solving skills. Bay Hall Mud Kitchen How Things Work Gumnut Grove Try It Studio Art Studios Lookout Cove BADM Beach and a changing exhibit hall |
| Children's Discovery Museum of San Jose | Seld Guided Field Trips | San Jose | Enjoy the hands-on exhibits including: Art Gallery, Art Loft, Bill's Backyard, Bubbles. Mammoth Discovery, Rainbow Market, Secrets of Circles, Streets, Water Ways, Wonder Cabinet, and the changing exhbiit |
| CuriOdyssey | Build It and Break It! - Field Trip | San Mateo | Build a wooden bridge and a paper tower, then test their strength until they collapse. Students will explore gravity, stress, and other forces that engineers have to overcome (or utilize) every time they construct a bridge or building. Let’s learn together as we build and break our very own structures. Also available as an in-class program. |
| CuriOdyssey | Wind Powered Vehichles | San Mateo | This activity is propelled by a fan or the students themselves! Students learn about engineering, gasses, friction, sails, forces, motion, and energy. By creating a vehicle which can be powered by wind, students gain understanding of design, why we use wheels, why we might not, and attempt to build a vehicle which goes straight, far, and/or fast with limited materials. |
| Exploratorium | Eletricity and Magnetism | San Francisco | Guided Pathways are intended to be a set course for teacher-led exploration in the museum. Each Pathway includes a student worksheet and a matching teacher's edition. The teacher's edition links the Pathway's content to state science standards and provides additional support materials as well as sample answers to the worksheet questions (www.exploratorium.edu/pathways/index.html). The Magnetism Guided Pathway spotlights these exhibits: Black Sand, Visible Magnetic Domains, Magnetic Spinner, Magnetic Clouds, Magnetic Tightrope, Floating in Copper. The chemistry topics reviewed teach the chemical and physical properties of metals. |
| Exploratorium | Gallery 2: Tinkering | San Francisco | Think with your hands. Making things and developing ideas by hand helps us construct understanding. Slow down, settle in, and make something personally meaningful—from playful contraptions to surprising connections between mechanical systems and natural phenomena. |
| Exploratorium | Tinkering Studio | San Francisco | A studio workshop for playful invention, investigation, and collaboration The Tinkering Studio is an immersive, active, creative place at the Exploratorium where museum visitors can slow down, become deeply engaged in an investigation of scientific phenomena, and make something—a piece of a collaborative chain reaction—that fully represents their ideas and aesthetic. In the Tinkering Studio, visitors are invited to explore a curiosity-driven exhibit, chat with a featured artist, or investigate a range of phenomena with staff artists, scientists, educators, and others by participating in a collaborative activity. A large, eclectic assortment of materials, tools, and technologies are provided for people to use as they explore and create. |
| Folsom Powerhouse | Powerhouse Tour | Folsom | Visitors touring the powerhouse can see the massive General Electric transformers, each capable of conducting from 800 to 11,000 volts of electricity, in addition to the forebays and canal system that brought the water from the dam. There is also a downloadable unit on electricity on the website. |
| Great America Theme Park | Physics, Science and Math Days | Santa Clara | April 28, & May 5, 12, & 19, 2023 Great America has collaborated with lteachers and consultants to develop activities and downloadable packets that can be used as a resource guide to meet current teaching requirements. On these days the park has special activities to help demostrate the science that deals with matter, energy, motion, and force is a modern-day roller coasters. |
| Hiller Aviation Museum | Flight and Motion | San Carlos | Investigate the forces of flight while building and flying a model glider! Primary students explore lift, thrust, drag and gravity, while elementary and above construct flight controls to change the attitude of their flying model aircraft. |
| Hiller Aviation Museum | Teacher-Led Field Trip | San Carlos | Teachers are provided with field trip guides, students get "flight plans" for interesting, challenging and engaging learning activities based on the displays and exhibits in the museum. The gallery includes full size models, interactive hands-on displays and multimedia presentations. Visitors can look into the restoration workshop, to see future museum models. Science topics include air density, sound, force, pressure, and the forces of flight, including thrust, lift, gravity, and drag. |
| Hiller Aviation Museum | Flight Simulator Lab | San Carlos | Enter the Museum’s Flight Sim Zone, where every student has the opportunity to control a simulated airplane through several realistic, age-appropriate missions. Using state-of-the-art flight simulation equipment and software, students work in pairs to master aircraft control while flying through a beautiful reproduction of the Bay Area and other locations worldwide. |
| Hiller Aviation Museum | Storm Chasers | San Carlos | Explore how weather affects flight in a challenging foul-weather flight simulation. Discover thunderstorms and other weather hazards and how they affect aircraft, and then enter the Flight Sim Zone to embark on a realistic mission into inclement conditions. It’s a thrilling adventure to the edge of aviation! |
| Hiller Aviation Museum | Amazing Aircraft II - Field Trip | San Carlos | Take flight with a rubber-powered airplane! Recommended for older students, Amazing Aircraft II features construction and flight of a larger, propeller powered balsa airplane. Grades 4-8 add control surfaces to guide their airplane’s flight. Launch into the amazing world of aircraft! |
| Intel Museum | Museum Tours Intel Museum | Santa Clara | Students learn about Intel microprocessor history, silicon chip design, and chip fabrication. Museum staff guide students through the complex world of silicon technology to help them understand how Intel is changing the way we live, work, and play. Interactive exhibits encourage students to explore concepts in a fun and educational manner. These two-hour tours can be tailored for specific grade levels, including educational classes in the Learning Lab. Programs are available for grade 2 and higher. Classes offered: Binary (recommended for Grade 2) Conductivity (recommended for Grade 3) Circuitry (recommended for Grades 4-5) Puzzle Ball (recommended for Grades 6-12) |
| Marina Education Programs - City of Berkeley | Adventure Playground | Berkeley | The Adventure Playground at the Berkeley Marina was opened in 1978. It is a wonderfully unique outdoor facility where staff encourage children to play and build creatively. Come climb on the many unusual kid designed and built forts, boats, and towers. Ride the zip line or hammer, saw, and paint. By providing these low risk activities Adventure Playground creates opportunities for children to learn cooperation, meet physical challenges and gain self confidence. |
| Math Science Nucleus | Magnetism | Fremont | Students look at magnets and learn their properties. They look at various magnets. They all make their own ‘Hairy Monster,” made from magnetite. |
| Math Science Nucleus | Electricity | Fremont | TStudents are electrified with static and current electricity. They learn the difference between series and parallel circuits. Students can see first hand how this vital form of energy charges the world. Fourth Grade: Physical Science (1 a,c,e,g) |
| Math Science Nucleus | Physics of Toys | Fremont | Students learn basic principles of gravity, electromagnetism, and mechanics. They will be entertained with toys through history. Activities include working with various toys and will be asked to design and make their own toy. |
| Oakland Aviation Museum | Museum Tour - Oakland Aviation Museum | Oakland | Self-guided tour through the museum to see noteworthy aircrafts and engines. Exhibits include Early Oakland Aviation, African-American Aviation, Women Pilots, Air Racing, Aerial Photography and Space. A guide takes students on a "climb aboard" tour through the Flying Boat-- designed to take off and land in the water only. |
| Randall Museum | Electricity and Magnetism - Grades 2 - 4 | San Francisco | Electricity and magnetism are two different, but closely related, natural forces in our world. Through hands-on exploration, students learn the basic properties of electricity and magnetism by pulling electrons off each other, creating circuits that control the flow of electricity, magnetically testing familiar objects and more. |
| San Francisco Maritime National Park | Submarine Science School | San Francisco | The Pampanito Science Program is a hands-on experience for upper elementary and middle school students set on a historic WWII submarine. Explore scientific concepts for submarine operation, such as buoyancy, light and sound waves, navigational techniques, and chemical battery creation. Includes a private tour of the submarine where students will be able to gain historical empathy through the stores told. For inquiries or to apply, visit maritime.org/education, or call (415) 561-6662 ext. 5. |
| San Francisco Maritime National Park | USS Pampanito Daytime Tours | San Francisco | Here's your opportunity to get a first-hand look at one of the once-secret naval vessels which helped to win World War II. The USS Pampanito (SS-383), a World War II fleet submarine, provides an excellent field trip experience for classes exploring the history of World War II or for other educational groups seeking an out-of-the-ordinary experience. As one of the last surviving submarines from America's World War II fleet, the USS Pampanito provides a unique opportunity to bring alive the history most students can only read about. (More about the Pampanito.) Using our on-board self-guided audio tour system, your group can walk the decks and tour the interior of an actual submarine while learning about the important role played by the "Silent Service." Your tour will describe the difficult conditions under which the crews of these vessels toiled while you learn about the basic principles of submarine operation. |
| The Lawrence | Self-Guided Visit | Berkeley | Take your students to the Lawrence Hall of Science to enjoy the exhibits. Outdoor Nature Lab Animal Explorations Well Played Young Explorers Area Planetarium Hands-on Biotech Forces that Shape the Bay |
| The Tech Interactive | Physics of Rollercoasters | San Jose | Students design their own roller coasters to learn how engineers prototype and build machines. They also explore kinetic and potential energy, friction and Newton's 1st and 2nd Laws of Motion. |