Museum Classroom Programs & Tours

Museum Classroom Programs & Tours

The Museum offers hands-on programs and activities that can be customized to grade level and curriculum. All programs align with the New Mexico Education Standards and are dedicated to the topics of energy, forces, nuclear radiation and the history of nuclear science. Programs at the Museum may be enhanced with self-guided or docent-guided tours.

Download 2010-2011 Education Guide (PDF)

Online reservation form to book a program

Prices

Self-guided Tours: $5.00 per student, 15 student minimum per group
Free admission for all chaperones; ratio of 6 students per chaperone required

Docent-guided Tours or Classroom Program: $6.00 per student, 15 student minimum per group
Free admission for all chaperones; ratio of 6 students per chaperone required

Docent-guided Tours and Classroom Program: $7.00 per student, 15 student minimum per group
Free admission for all chaperones; ratio of 6 students per chaperone required

Programs

Taste of Science (Grades Pre K-5)

Participate in demonstrations of atmospheric pressure, forces, electricity, magnetism, radiation and phases of matter. Students will sample different scientific instruments, which may include a vacuum pump, a Van de Graff generator, Geiger counters and others.

Encounter Energy! (Grades K-5)

What is energy? Examine the sources and uses of energy including heat, light, wind and electricity. Learn how energy reacts with matter and how it changes from one form to another. Build and test electric circuits and more!

Fly Me to the Moon (Grades K-5)

Students will model the movement of the planets, see a solar flare through a telescope, or design a rocket that will reach amazing distances. Learning about constellations includes hearing the stories depicted in the night sky.

Matter Matters! (Grades K-8)

Matter consists of solids, liquids and gases; compare and learn more about the properties of matter. Get introduced to nano. Nano = one billionth. That’s tiny! This technology means that your shirt may never be ketchup-stained again. Create a recipe for the stiffest plastic ball or slip a needle through a balloon without a bang. Learn more about this new field and how it is changing our lives today.

Radiation: Friend or Foe? (Grades 6-8 or 9-12)

Use the Museum Geiger counters to measure the radioactivity of common household substances and radioactive isotopes. Replicate half-life experiments used to date fossils, learn how nuclear images are created, and measure your own natural radiation dose during a year.

New Mexico History & World War II (Grades 7-12)

Secrets and Spies:
Decipher a secret code while you learn the story of the Russian spies who stole secrets from Los Alamos in the 1940’s. Use primary source material and view the museum exhibits showing the role of secrecy, espionage, and science in World War II history.

Decision to Drop:
Weigh the pros and cons of dropping Fat Man and Little Boy over Japan through the use of primary sources and the viewpoints of historical figures. Students will engage in role-playing activities designed to stimulate critical thinking skills.

Museum Tours

Bring your students to the Museum and allow them to discover each exhibit through a docent-guided formal tour, or accompany your students on a self-guided tour. Another possibility is to send your students to the Museum for an enrichment project using worksheets we provide to help guide them.
The Museum exhibits include interests in three areas: Science, History and Technology:

Science:

Little Albert’s Lab
The future belongs to the children of today.  In Little Albert’s Lab children of all ages can play and learn the concepts of physics, considered by many to be the basis of all sciences.

Periodic Hall
Marvel at the granite Periodic Table of the Elements in the floor of the foyer.  Check your memory of symbols and atomic weights.
 
Pioneers of the Atom
Step back in time to meet the individuals who questioned and defined the matter which makes up the universe. Use the interactive kiosk to trace the study of the atom from the early Greeks through Dalton and Rutherford to the world of Albert Einstein and E=mc2.

Radiation 101
View sources of radiation including many household items that are naturally radioactive. Use the interactive kiosk to estimate your personal radiation dose and compare the alpha, beta, and gamma radiation detected by an operating Geiger Counter.  Explore a variety of radiation detectors, the precursors to modern dosimeters used by nuclear scientists today.

X is for X-Ray / Nuclear Medicine
Trace the development of early X-rays through modern imaging techniques.  Learn how X-rays differ from the images created using radioactive isotopes to view internal organs like your heart or lungs.

History:

Decision to Drop / Manhattan Project
The dawn of the Atomic Age began with the design and testing of the world’s first atomic bomb during the Manhattan Project. Peek into the daily lives of the scientists who lived at Los Alamos and journey with them to the Trinity site where the first explosion occurred in 1945. 

Cold War
In this exhibit, visitors will explore the continuing political conflict existing after WWII. See an extensive collection of military weapons developed in the era.

Atomic Pop Culture
Every visitor will be entertained while viewing how American popular culture reflected the dawning of the Atomic Age!

Civil Defense Fallout Shelter
Watch a live television broadcast in a fallout shelter re-created for this exhibit.  Check your emergency supply list with the items Americans collected to equip a family fallout shelter in the 1950s. 

Heritage Park
Complete with planes, rockets, missiles, cannons and nuclear submarine sail, this exhibit will attract plane buffs and historians alike.

Hiroshima and Nagasaki
While the atomic bomb brought the war to a close, the after-effects of the bomb were felt for years in Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

Technology:

Energy Encounters
Decide for yourself whether our energy hungry world can continue to survive on fossil fuels.  Examine the options of green energy alternatives like solar and wind power along with the place nuclear power has in the world today.  Explore the functions of a nuclear power plant, the use of nuclear power in a merchant marine ship, and the safety precautions we take to prevent nuclear accidents in the United States.  Interactive programs are available throughout.

The Uranium Cycle
The uranium ore cart in this exhibit is just the beginning of the fuel cycle for uranium.  Learn about the steps in the process required to change uranium into a useable form for nuclear power plants or weapons.  End the cycle with options for the disposal and recycling of uranium fuel.