Jefferson's class got to go to the Tech Museum in San Jose, and of course I was by his side on this exciting adventure. The Tech Museum is a fascinating collaboration between scientific innovations and hands-on exhibits where kids of all ages can let their imagination soar. The special exhibit for this month featured an outstanding collection of more than 80 authentic costumes, props, and models from all of the 6 Star Wars movies. Its title "Star Wars: Where Science meets Imagination" served as a creative bridge in the minds of the kids as they went and looked at all the models and costumes used in Star Wars films connecting the imagination of those films with real science. Interactive exhibits helped the students understand the science behind the ideas used in the movies. And who knows, perhaps one of them will grow up to actually make those ideas happen in reality.
My favorite part of this experience was the shocked, but admiring look I got from the kids I was chaperoning when I would beat them in being the first in building all of the models or finishing the experiments first. They would all say "Wow, how did you do that? Why isn't this working for me? How did your mom (to Jefferson) get to finish that so quickly?" I loved the proud look on Jefferson's face that his mom was so awesome, but I could also detect a little bit of jealousy. Ha ha ha, I loved it. So parents out there, I made you all proud. In the eyes of those kids, I wasn't only the artsy mom, but also the smart mom who loves science. For a parent, it can't get better than that!
(Sorry about the quality of these pictures; we weren't allowed to do any flash photography.)
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The rest of the museum was as exciting or even more. We played every game, conducted every experiment, tried our hands at every design lab, and built our own robots. The kids couldn't decide what to do first; they were so excited. There were times I didn't see them for minutes at a time; they were building their own creations, while I was absend-mindedly working with my own imagination. At one point, I went to look for them, and I saw this big screen of Google Earth and a view of my hometown in it. My son was using Google's Liquid Galaxy to track my home from the other side of the planet, and using those three big screens made him look as if he were in an FBI movie. Fun all around! (Sorry, I didn't take too many pictures on this side of the museum; I was too busy being a scientist :) )
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