Perot Museum Makes Science Fun
Inviting curious learners of all ages, the newly expanded Engineering and Innovation Hall at the Perot Museum of Nature and Science intends to bring out the innovator in every child and the child in every adult.
Partnering with the Texas Instruments Foundation, the renovated exhibition spurs curiosity through fun stations, allowing visitors to explore their inner engineer and become inspired by local engineers.
“You’re going to have an opportunity to engage in science in this really risk-free way, and find out that it’s fun, which is what you don’t learn in classrooms.” -Perot’s CEO Linda Silver.
At the center of the 4,500-square-foot hall, two stations allow hands-on learners to play with robots using controllers to complete missions collaboratively.
For visual learners, an attention-grabbing music coding sequencer stands out with a colorful LED display, allowing visitors to create music using light-up buttons.
Technology fanatics might look forward to a real-life ‘Snapchat filter’ with the facial recognition station, customizing their avatars and characters to use for themselves and friends.
If you’re up for a challenge, the hall also features the 1,400-square-foot “ChallENGe Lab,” where visitors engage in timed, thought-provoking engineering challenges such as a high-tech egg drop, where they work analytically and creatively on finding a solution.
For younger learners, watching objects flow through the 23-foot “Amazing Airways” wind tube can be exciting.
Officials hope the hall will nourish young minds, igniting future innovation.
“It’s certainly our sincere hope that this inspires some young minds to choose engineering as a profession and innovation as a passion,” Terry West, chair of the TI Foundation, said at the ribbon-cutting ceremony. “But I think regardless of what young minds choose, this is a place that will inspire curiosity and a desire to help make our world just a little bit better through technology.”
