Listed below is a brief description of each middle school (Grades 6-8) in-person field trip being offered at the Howard B. Owens Science Center. Field trip descriptions are listed by first semester and second semester including the grade level(s) and brief summary.
Grade 6—CoDrone Mini Unbalanced Forces of Flight: Code that Flies: Students will enjoy exploring Newton’s Laws of Motion, Forces of Flight and unbalanced forces coding mini drones through Howard B. Owens Science Center Flight Challenges.
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Grades 6 & 8—Newton’s Rocket Launchers: Students explore Newton’s laws as they apply them to various things including space rockets. Next, students will put on their engineering hats and build and launch their very own straw rockets.
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Grade 7—Cyber System Lockdown: Mission Crack the Code: Students take on the role of junior cyber agents in a simulated cybersecurity incident. Working collaboratively, they investigate system vulnerabilities by evaluating password strength, decoding ciphers, and identifying phishing attempts. By completing each task, teams collect code elements needed to unlock a lockbox and restore system security. This experience builds foundational cybersecurity skills while introducing pathways to careers in technology.
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Grades 6,7 & 8—Cosmic Cycles : Step into the planetarium and unlock the rhythms of the sky! Students explore how the Sun and Moon’s patterns shape our seasons, weather, and night sky, using immersive models and real-world data. From tracking seasonal sunpaths and uncovering the science of Earth’s tilt, to observing Moon phases and simulating eclipses, learners become sky detectives, predicting celestial events and even taking on the role of “eclipse chasers.”
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Grade 7—Micro:Bits: Extreme Weather Systems: In Micro:Bits: Extreme Weather Systems, students explore how technology is used to monitor, predict, and respond to dangerous weather events. Using BBC micro:bits, they investigate sensors, coding, and emergency warning systems designed to reduce the impacts of hazards such as floods, tornadoes, and blizzards. Working in teams, students design, build, test, and refine their own weather warning systems while exploring how technology can help protect communities.
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Grade 7—Mix It Up! Chemistry in Action: Students will explore chemical reactions, conservation of mass, exothermic and endothermic reactions, and reaction rates. They will perform hands-on experiments, record observations, and apply what they have learned to real - world scenarios.
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Grade 8—Mission Decode: In Mission Decode, students take on the role of secret agents to explore how cybersecurity and cryptography help protect information in our digital world. Through hands-on investigations, students evaluate password security, learn how secret codes work, and use Pigpen and Caesar ciphers to encrypt and decrypt messages. The experience culminates in a final challenge where students apply their decoding skills to recover an encrypted message and discover the time and location of a planned meet-up.
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Grade 8—“Seeing” in Color: Humans vs. Drones: In this STEM investigation, students compare how humans and drones “see” color by exploring biological vision and RGB /HSV color sensor technology. Working in teams, they collect and analyze color data and explain differences between human perception and sensor measurements. The lesson culminates in a “Hidden Color Square” challenge where students use HSV drone collected data to predict unknown mat colors to demonstrate how technology can extend human senses.
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