Museum Week – COSI

Welcome to Ohio! In honor of National Museum Day, I am going to take you on a tour
of my local science museum, COSI. Parents Magazine has ranked COSI, the Center
of Science and Industry, as the #1 science center in the country. I feel very blessed to
live so close to this museum, which features over 300 different interactive and hands-on
exhibits.

When you first walk in you are met by a Foucault Pendulum, an exhibit that
demonstrates Earth’s rotation. A large, stainless-steel ball suspended from the ceiling
moves slowly side to side, knocking down a circle of pegs one by one. While the ball
swings, Earth rotates, and causes people to think they are seeing the pendulum move.
However, it is the Earth that is really moving. The pendulum has been at COSI since it
first opened its doors in 1964.

When you immediately look up, you’ll be amazed by a high wire unicycle, which is the
only one in the world! Personally, I have never rode this…too chicken, as you have to
ride the unicycle across an 84-foot cable, 17 feet above the ground. It is perfectly safe,
there is a 250-pound counterweight which keeps the unicycle upright at all times. I’m
just too chicken.

You are also immediately met by the great glass elevator, a story tall elevator that
freaks me out since I am afraid of heights.

The lobby of COSI alone is enough to keep a kid busy for an hour. One of my son’s
most favorite exhibits in the entire building is EffecTV, a large screen that enables you
to change your image at the push of a button. In the photo above, my son, Colleen’s son
and I are pixelated, like MineCraft characters.

Moving on, we see a hint of things to come…Mythbusters: The Explosive Exhibition is
arriving next month. The car from The Backwards-Driving episode is there as a sneak
peak.

All that I have mentioned so far was just in the lobby! When Colleen and I visited COSI
last week, we did not even make it to half of the exhibits, which include a Space
section, Ocean section, Life section, outdoor Big Science Park, Kidz Zone,
which has two separate free play areas for little kids and big kids, (and more) but we did
make it to Progress, which is like an unbelievable step back in time.

“Explore an American street at two different times in history. Travel through time and
interact with the technology from 1898. Then turn a corner and find yourself generations
later – in 1962 – in that same town. In just sixty-four years, telegraphs gave way to
television, Morse code to telephones, farmer’s markets to TV dinners. Stand on the
corner of Hope Street and Fear Street in Progress and wonder: what will the future
bring?” ~COSI.org

One of the busiest and most exciting sections in COSI is Gadgets, a place to explore
lasers, motion, mechanics, pulleys, gravity, robots and more. Check out the ceiling in
the photo above. You know, a place with giant humanoid brains hanging from the ceiling
must be cool!

Our boys could spend hours building with the erector set type materials. Last week they
built a 3-foot tall transporter.

The hallways are just as awesome as the actual exhibits. Dangling from the second
floor ceiling is a massive 100-foot long skeleton made entirely out of wire.

Located on a wall in the center of the very large second floor hallway is an Optical
Illusion Spinning Disk. After you stare at the disk for 30 seconds, you turn to look down
either end of the massive hallway and everything becomes warped to the point where
you feel like falling over. This is so much fun for both kids and adults.

All of the things that I’ve shared with you today are not even the tip of the iceberg when
it comes to COSI. Even the restrooms are educational and display various brain-feeding
posters on the inside of every single stall. The one above shows us just how much
water we use for various everyday life activities.

I strongly encourage you to visit COSI if you are ever in the central Ohio region. I’ll leave
you with two more fun photos.

What three crazy kids look like in a 75-mph tornado tube.

What two crazy homeschool bloggy moms look like when having their picture taken by
10 year old and 11 year old boys. My dear friend Colleen and I!
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Amy Stults is a Christian wife of 15 years to her knight in shining armor and mommy to their 10-year-old boy wonder. They have homeschooled for 6 years using a classical, literature-rich method. A die-hard Trekkie, she adores her husband and son, all things British, sweet tea, small kitchen appliances, and holidays, even the silly ones like National Eat Like a Hobbit Day. Amy has a passion for genealogy and a love for helping others trace their family trees to learn more about their roots. You can find co-managing iHomeschool Network and blogging at Milk and Cookies. Connect with Amy on Facebook and Pinterest.

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My friends and I are exploring museums this week. Don’t miss a single one!  Subscribe to The Homeschool Scientist by Email and get homeschool science in your inbox!

Did you miss our first stop  yesterday? Go check out our trip to the Creation Museum and the Newport Aquarium.