2020-2021

Afternoon Activities

Group A - 2020-2021 Lab Schedule

September

• 9:30am - ConocoPhillips TechnoScience Labs - Kitchen Science - Check out cool chemistry hiding in the kitchen.

• 11:00 am - Wildlife Labs - Mechanics of Flight - Prodigious plumage isn’t enough to take flight. Study not only feathers, but other adaptations animals use to fly.

October

• Space Mission - Junior Expedition - Participants act as astronauts on a space mission (1.5 hours)

November

• 9:30am - ConocoPhillips TechnoScience Labs - Skyscraper Science - Experiment with tension, compression and more to solve the problems of building sky-high.

• 11:00am - Time Labs - Medicine from the Renaissance - From the anatomical drawings of Leonardo da Vinci to movable print and the printing press, explore the modernization of medicine.

January

• 9:30am - ConocoPhillips TechnoScience Labs - Water Works - Discover surprising things about water and explore surface tension and capillary action.

• 11:00am - Jurassic James - Dinosaurs! - There are thousands of dinosaur species known to science. In this class, we will look at the five major groups of dinosaurs - Theropoda (usually predatory dinosaurs), Saurapoda (long necked dinosaurs), Ornithopoda (Iguanodonts and "duck-billed" dinosaurs), Marginocephala (horned dinosaurs), and Thyreophora (armored dinosaurs) - and what defines them.

February

• 9:30am - Southwestern Energy Earth Science Labs - Speleogy: Let’s Discover Spelunking! - Dig into our course on caves and learn about caves, karst regions, and everything that’s in between!

• 11:00am - Wildlife Labs - Great Pretenders- Shakespearean actors have nothing on the dramatic flair some wildlife employ to evade capture. Even world famous opossums don’t have the best death scenes in the animal kingdom. Come to this lab to experience the theatrics of nature.

March

• 9:30am - Wildlife Labs- Keystone Species -By filling a particular niche in their environments, these animals have made themselves irreplaceable. Discuss predators, prey, and particularly strange keystone species in this lab.

• 11:00am - Time Labs - Life in Victorian England - Technology developed during this time brought a social and economic revolution come discover how these advances shaped your own life today.

April

• 9:30am - Wildlife Labs- Magnificent Mollusca - What has a foot but no leg, jet propulsion but is not a rocket, and a beak but is not a bird?

• 11:00am - Southwestern Energy Earth Science Labs - Land Forms - Explore the basic landforms and waterways found in Texas. Follow our water from spring to shore.

May

• 9:30am - Wildlife Labs - Carnivorous Plants - Hungry, hungry, sundews? In an environment where other plants would die, carnivorous plants have adapted and thrive.

• 11:00am - ConocoPhillips TechnoScience Labs - Shape Science II - There’s so much exciting shape science it wouldn’t fit in one class! Come explore more puzzles, tessellations and symmetry.

Group B - 2020-2021 Lab Schedule

September

• 9:30am - Wildlife Labs - Mechanics of Flight - Prodigious plumage isn’t enough to take flight. Study not only feathers, but other adaptations animals use to fly.

• 11:00am - Dissection Labs - Whooo’s There? - Ever wonder what happens to the indigestible parts when birds swallow food whole? They regurgitate it! Find out what’s on the menu as you deconstruct an owl pellet. Includes dissection.

October

• 9:30am - Dissection Labs - Mud Puppy Mania - Enter the world of a freshwater predator, the Mud Puppy, and see what makes this salamander unique. Includes dissection.

• 11:00am - Time Labs - The Renaissance- Discover the cultural movement that began in Italy in the 14th century that was a pivotal transition between the Middle ages to the early modern period.

November

• 9:30am - Wildlife Labs - Bear With Me - Learn about the Great 8 – the only 8 species of bear that are alive today, and explore their unique qualities that inspired characters like Yogi, Winnie-the-Pooh, and Smokey in this BEARy good lab.

• 11:00am - Jurassic James - Life in the Jurassic - This class offers a detailed look at the museum's animals of the jurassic period, which inlcude Diplodocus, Stegosaurus, Allosaurus, Othnielosaurs and Marine reptiles like Ichthyosaurs, Plesiosaurs and Marine Crocodiles. We will discuss these animals and their lifestyles, then see the actual skeltons.

January

• 9:30am - Dissection Labs - Seeing Stars - Not the kind that twinkle, but the kind that crawl. Dive deep into this class about the starfish and its Echinoderm cousins. Includes starfish dissection.

• 11:00am - ConocoPhillips TechnoScience Labs - Water Works - Discover surprising things about water and explore surface tension and capillary action.

February

• 9:30am - Wildlife Labs - Great Pretenders - Shakespearean actors have nothing on the dramatic flair some wildlife employ to evade capture. Even world famous opossums don’t have the best death scenes in the animal kingdom. Come to this lab to experience the theatrics of nature.

• 11:00am - Time Lab - The Ottoman Empire - One of the greatest empires in history, they reigned for hundreds of years before crumbling on the battlefields of World War I.

March

• 9:30am - Dissection Labs - Waste Not, Want Not - From filtration to waste removal, investigate the body fluid balancer, the kidney. Includes mammalian kidney dissection.

• 11:00am - Wildlife Labs - Keystone Species - By filling a particular niche in their environments, these animals have made themselves irreplaceable. Discuss predators, prey, and particularly strange keystone species in this lab.

April

• 9:30am - Southwestern Energy Earth Science Labs - Recycling! - Reduce, reuse, recycle! Discover the science behind recycling, and ways that you can improve your recycling skills!

• 11:00am - ConocoPhillips TechnoScience Labs - Crash Course - Investigate the physics of collisions and safety technology.

May

• Space Mission - Full Expedition - Participants act as astronauts and mission control specialists, landing on the moon and on Mars. (2 hours)

Group C - 2020-2021 Lab Schedule

September

• 9:30am - Dissection Labs - Whooo’s There? - Ever wonder what happens to the indigestible parts when birds swallow food whole? They regurgitate it! Find out what’s on the menu as you deconstruct an owl pellet. Includes dissection.

• 11:00am - ConocoPhillips TechnoScience Labs - Kitchen Science - Check out cool chemistry hiding in the kitchen.

October

• 9:30am - Time Labs - The Renaissance - Discover the cultural movement that began in Italy in the 14th century that was a pivotal transition between the Middle ages to the early modern period.

• 11:00am - Dissection Labs - Mud Puppy Mania - Enter the world of a freshwater predator, the Mud Puppy, and see what makes this salamander unique. Includes dissection.

November

• 9:30am - Time Labs - Medicine from the Renaissance - From the anatomical drawings of Leonardo da Vinci to movable print and the printing press, explore the modernization of medicine.

• 11:00am - Wildlife Labs - Bear With Me - Learn about the Great 8 – the only 8 species of bear that are alive today, and explore their unique qualities that inspired characters like Yogi, Winnie-the-Pooh, and Smokey in this BEARy good lab.

January

• 9:30am - Biology - Mendelian Genetics - Investigate a variety of phenotypes, genotypes and Punnett squares using Mendel's Principles of Inheritance, the three laws that are the foundation of genetics.

• 11:00am - Dissection Labs - Seeing Stars - Not the kind that twinkle, but the kind that crawl. Dive deep into this class about the starfish and its Echinoderm cousins. Includes starfish dissection.

February

• 9:30am - Time Lab - The Ottoman Empire -One of the greatest empires in history, they reigned for hundreds of years before crumbling on the battlefields of World War I.

• 11:00am - Southwestern Energy Earth Science Labs - Speleogy: Let’s Discover Spelunking! - Dig into our course on caves and learn about caves, karst regions, and everything that’s in between!

March

• 9:30am - Time Labs - Life in Victorian England - Technology developed during this time brought a social and economic revolution come discover how these advances shaped your own life today.

• 11:00am - Dissection Labs - Waste Not, Want Not - From filtration to waste removal, investigate the body fluid balancer, the kidney. Includes mammalian kidney dissection.

April

• Space Mission - Full Expedition - Participants act as astronauts and mission control specialists, landing on the moon and on Mars. (2 hours)

May

• Jurassic James - Prehistoric Texas Wildlife - This exciting class will focus on amphibians, reptiles, mammals, and birds of Texas. Jurassic James has been all over our great state and has seen and interacted with many of these species. Due to Texas' large size and geographical position, many species inhabit our state either year round or seasonally. Have you ever wondered why they say "Where the deer and the antelope play" when Texas has no antelope, only pronghorns? This class will explain the answer to this as well as discuss many more ideas about your state's wildlife! We will also journey to the Farish Hall of Texas Wildlife, time permitting. (2 hours)

Group D - 2020-2021 Lab Schedule

September

• 9:30am - Dissection Labs - Whooo’s There? - Ever wonder what happens to the indigestible parts when birds swallow food whole? They regurgitate it! Find out what’s on the menu as you deconstruct an owl pellet. Includes dissection.

• 11:00am - Wildlife Labs - Mechanics of Flight - Prodigious plumage isn’t enough to take flight. Study not only feathers, but other adaptations animals use to fly.

October

• 9:30am - Southwestern Energy Earth Science Labs - Minerals That Could Kill - Lead, cinnabar, asbestos, OH MY! In this class, we will talk about what makes these minerals so deadly and the products that were created from them.

• 11:00am - Dissection Labs - Mud Puppy Mania - Enter the world of a freshwater predator, the Mud Puppy, and see what makes this salamander unique. Includes dissection.

November

• Space Mission - Advanced Full Expedition - Harder tasks. Participants act as both astronauts and mission controllers. Landings on Moon and Mars. (2 hours)

January

• 9:30am - ConocoPhillips TechnoScience Labs - Water Works - Discover surprising things about water and explore surface tension and capillary action.

• 11:00am - Dissection Labs - Seeing Stars - Not the kind that twinkle, but the kind that crawl. Dive deep into this class about the starfish and its Echinoderm cousins. Includes starfish dissection.

February

• Jurassic James - How Fossils Form - Most people know the fundamentals of fossilization, but this class will look at the many subdivisions that are taught in college courses - from imprints, casts, molds, recrystallization, petrification, pyritization, permineralization, and trace fossils like coprolites (fossil droppings) and tracks. (2 hours)

March

• 9:30am - Time Labs - Life in Victorian England - Technology developed during this time brought a social and economic revolution come discover how these advances shaped your own life today.

• 11:00am - Dissection Labs - Waste Not, Want Not - From filtration to waste removal, investigate the body fluid balancer, the kidney. Includes mammalian kidney dissection.

April

• 9:30am - ConocoPhillips TechnoScience Labs - Crash Course - Investigate the physics of collisions and safety technology.

• 11:00am - Wildlife Labs- Magnificent Mollusca - What has a foot but no leg, jet propulsion but is not a rocket, and a beak but is not a bird?

May

• Dissection Lab - Fetal Pigs - An extended lab for older students. Explore mammalian anatomy of thoracic and abdominal cavities with dissection of fetal pigs. (2hours)