School Year
EXPLORE: Educator's Guide | Curriculum Guides | Homeschool Tuesdays | Surgery Live!
EXPLORE: Educator’s Guide
Whitaker Center’s annual EXPLORE: Educators’ Planning Guide is now available. In order to lower our paper usage, we've reduced the content in the mailed version. However, all of the information in the printed version - and more - is still available online. Download the entire guide or print only what you need—the choice is yours.
Click here to download the 2009/2010 Educator's Guide.
Click here to download the School Visit Request Form.
Curriculum Guides
Check back in early 2010 for new Curriculum Guides.
Homeschool Tuesdays
Whitaker Center for Science and the Arts invites your children to participate in Discovery Lab programs for homeschool students. Science Center experiences are enriched by these comprehensive hands-on workshops. Labs focus on a variety of age-appropriate content and correlate to the PA Academic Standards. Each inquiry-based lab lasts 45 minutes and can be tailored to meet the special needs of your children. Schedule for 2009-2010 will be available soon. Check back for updates.
Grades 1-2
From the Ground Up
Get down and dirty as we scratch the surface of geology. Separate soil samples to get an up-close look and discover what soil is made of and where it comes from.
Treasure Boxes
Come and explore the world of attributes and patterns through sorting. Students create graphs and Venn diagrams using everyday objects from our treasure boxes.
Dinosaur Discoveries
Explore the world of dinosaurs through their ancient bones. Can you put the pieces together to solve the mystery of the dinosaurs?
Windows on Weather
Uncover the mysteries behind weather phenomena including wind, cloud formation and thunderstorms.
Grades 3-5
Predators Aloft
Discover the tools and technology used by birds-of-prey while examining similarities and differences among species.
It's Probable
Move from wild guesses to educated predications in this fun introduction to probability and statistic.
Bridging the Gaps
Explore the wonders of design! What makes some shapes stronger than others? Using K’NEX, build a bridge and test it out. Can your bridge hold up to the pressure?
All Systems Go
Discover the amazing abilities of the body on a fast-paced trip through the nervous, digestive, respiratory and circulatory systems.
Grades 6-8
Rock and Roll Earth
Can you build a structure that will survive an earthquake? Discover more about earthquakes, their causes, and the resulting damage.
Bone Riddles
Unravel the riddles of the past using tools and techniques used by paleontologists and physical anthropologists.
Science Detective
Use forensic science techniques to examine evidence using stereomicroscopes and inductive and deductive reasoning skills to solve a crime – a real Whodunit!
Operation Outbreak
A contagious disease outbreak has just occurred and only you can stop it. Unravel the mystery and stop the disease before an epidemic gets out of control. Can you uncover the path of transmission and break the chain before time runs out?
Registration Information
All labs are designed to be age-appropriate, are taught by certified teachers and have limited enrollment.
Prices
$7 per student for non-members;
$6 for Whitaker Center members
Includes the lab and Harsco Science Center admission for the registered student.
Homeschool Tuesday pricing does not include admission to some limited engagement exhibitions or giant screen films—ask the school reservations associate for pricing. All labs require pre-registration and payment in full no later than the Wednesday preceding the program date. Call 717-214-4644 to register.
Surgery Live!
Click here for a preview of Surgery Live!.
Click here to download the information as a PDF.
Whitaker Center for Science and the Arts and Penn State Milton S. Hershey Medical Center are launching an innovative new partnership designed to stimulate the interest of high school students in careers in health care. With the support of Highmark Blue Shield, Surgery Live! at the Science Center in Whitaker center will allow students to enter the operating rooms of Hershey Medical Center through interactive high definition videoconferencing technology.
Student groups at Whitaker Center will see and hear the surgical teams in real time and will be permitted to ask questions at appropriate points during surgical procedures. In addition to explaining the operation as it happens, members of the surgical team will also describe their responsibilities and careers in health care, making those careers more interesting and accessible. Whitaker Center's Director of Education will facilitate the students' discussion with operating room staff, demonstrate surgical instruments used in the operation, and explain factors that cause disease and contribute to conditions that place patients on the operating table. Pre- and post-visit educational activities will maximize the impact of each Surgery Live! session.
There are only three similar programs at science centers in the U.S. These include Surgical Suite at the Center of Science and Industry (COSI) in Columbus, OH; Live from the Heart at the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago, IL; and Cardiac Classroom at the Liberty Science Center, Jersey City, NJ. The following comment is typical of Cardiac Classroom program participants:
“Watching a kidney transplant—live—and having students talk to operating room staff was an incredibly compelling experience. Students talked about it for days afterwards and a significant number now want to explore careers in medicine or biology.” - Bobbi Bremmer, High School Science Teacher
Surgery Live! learning objectives:
- Through pre-visit activities and by interacting with medical professionals as they perform their duties within the operating room, students will explore the variety of health careers that are involved in a surgical procedure.
- Students will learn how medical professionals apply elements of the scientific method to make critical observations of each patient, prepare accurate diagnoses and effectively treat disease.
- By observing the live surgical procedure and engaging in a group discussion afterward, students will gain an increased understanding of unhealthy living habits, how these can lead to disease and the need for surgery, and how healthy lifestyle choices can help people avoid surgery.
- Students will increase their knowledge of human anatomy
Surgery Live! details at-a-glance:
Capacity: 100 people
Program duration: 2.5 hours for Surgery Live! program
Total Whitaker Center visit time varies based on time allotted for visiting the Science Center and additional programmatic options chosen.
Pricing
Students $20
Adult chaperone $10
Lead Teacher Free
*Note: SDPC participants receive a 10% discount on the above rates. Science Center admission is included in Surgery Live! pricing. Addition of IMAX films or Discovery Labs may be available upon request for an additional fee.
Dates
Wednesday, October 7, 2009
Wednesday, November 4, 2009
Wednesday, November 18, 2009
Wednesday, December 9, 2009
Wednesday, January 20, 2010
Thursday, February 11, 2010
Wednesday, February 24, 2010
Thursday, March 11, 2010
Wednesday, March 24, 2010
Thursday, April 8, 2010
Wednesday, April 21, 2010
Wednesday, May 5, 2010
Thursday, May 13, 2010
Contact
For more information regarding Surgery Live! programming, please contact our School Reservations Office at 717-214-4644. Program availability and space is limited.
