New schedule! April’s Homeschool Day will be offered 10am – 2pm on two days: April 7 and April 22. Both days will include the same activities.
All young learners are welcome to join Homeschool Day, including learning pods and those with asynchronous school schedules.
Career Talk
10:30-11am & 12:30-1pm: Presentations in Theater (socially distanced seating)
11-11:30am & 1-1:30pm: Walk-up “Geo Talks” table outside the Theater
Greg Wahlman, Ph.D., geologist and paleontologist, Wahlman Geological Services, LLC, Austin
A childhood interest in nature, including collecting rocks and fossils, inspired Greg Wahlman’s 40+ year career in geology and paleontology. Greg has worked for major oil companies and conducted geological fieldwork around the world, including the Rocky Mountains, the Atlas Mountains of North Africa and the Ural Mountains of northern Russia. He later served as an adjunct professor at UT-Austin and continues to consult and publish research in professional geological journals. His work involves analyzing rocks and fossils to age-date them, interpret how the rocks formed, and predict how they might fit into a potential oil reservoir. Greg earned BS and MS degrees in Geology from Indiana University and a Ph.D. from the University of Cincinnati.
Hands-on Activities
Stations run continuously from 10am-2pm
Make-&-Take Water Cycle Bracelets: Become a drop of water and see where you’ll travel in a water cycle game—will you flow down a river, water a plant or freeze in a glacier? As a souvenir of your journey, make a unique beaded bracelet inspired by different phases of the water cycle.
Break It Down!: How does a mountain become sand? Speed up geologic time with a hands-on experiment that simulates rocks (sugar cubes) and soil (graham crackers) as they stand up to weathering forces, such as acid rain (vinegar).
Earth, Inside Out: See what’s inside our planet, down to its core, using handheld augmented reality with Merge Cubes. Then try your hand at taking a core sample and discover how geologists “read” the layers.
Learning Labs
Learning Labs are offered at an additional cost of $5 per student ($4.50 for members); pre-registration required.
Kinder-2nd Grade 10:30-11:15am – Super Soils and Radical Rocks
Use your senses and observation skills to explore like a geologist. Describe, sort and compare different rock and soil samples. What can you uncover about their different textures, colors and shapes?
3rd-5th Grade 11:30am-12:30pm – Forecast Calls for Big Changes
You get to control the weather! Create a mini mountain range, then simulate wind, rain and different weather conditions. How will the outcomes, such as run-off and drainage, change your landscape? (Note: Students will be working in groups of two.)
6th-12th Grade 1:00-2:00pm – Topographic Tattoos
Prepare to scale Mount Knuckle! Using your knuckle or knee as inspiration, learn to trace landform contours and elevations like a topographer—and create a cool wax-cling tattoo in the process. Then turn your 2D map into a 3D foam model.