Visiting London's Natural History Museum as a teenager

[caption id="attachment_3880" align="alignnone" width="1024"] (pic by John Cummings via Wikimedia Commons)[/caption]

Jess, aged 15, writes: I visited the Natural History Museum frequently when I was younger (in fact, one of my earliest memories is looking at the dinosaurs), but I hadn't been for at least five years until one of my friends suggested a visit. It's strange being a teenager at museums: exhibits are either super babyish or ridiculously quiet and intellectual, and attempts at appealing to teenagers usually involve cringe-y "LOL"s and hashtags. We wondered if the museum had changed much since we last visited it, and if there would be anything for us.

We started out in the "Red Zone", which is all about earth's structure. My friend and I were instantly entranced by the entrance: an escalator leading into a giant model of the earth. It seemed like the start of a ride at Disneyworld! The first exhibition was one I remembered from years ago - "Volcanoes and Earthquakes". Despite both of us being Geography GCSE students and already knowing most of the facts, we really enjoyed the exhibition - it was colourful, in depth, relatively up to date, and had lots to see and do. Particular highlights were casts from Pompeii and a supermarket that simulates the 1996 Great Hanshin earthquake.

[caption id="attachment_3878" align="alignnone" width="753"] (photo courtesy of the Natural History Museum)[/caption]

Next, we passed through the "Human Evolution" and "Earth's Treasures" galleries, which we found fascinating. "Human Evolution" features lots of realistic models of different human species over time, and "Earth's Treasures" is full of minerals and jewels of every size and colour. While these were definitely exciting to look at, it was also very interesting to learn about mineral structure and history of metals. My friend and I were pleasantly surprised - we didn't remember any of this from when we were younger, and it was set at a perfect level for us.

Next came the "Blue Zone", which was all about biology. We both remembered this room, which contains a gigantic blue whale model. There was a lot to see and do, and while everything was impressive, we got bored very quickly. Everything was exactly the same as we remembered, and it seemed quite faded and repetitive. However, there was another exhibition about human biology which we really enjoyed - while it was old, unchanged, and some things didn't work, there were lots of games to play and videos to watch. We enjoyed a game where you had to keep a boy alive by monitoring breathing rates, food consumption and more (we failed), circus mirrors, and an unintentionally funny video about getting hurt while being scared of a dog. We learnt nothing, but it was a lot of fun!

Next came the dinosaurs, which we were really looking forward to. This was the busiest part of the museum, and as expected, it was seemingly unchanged from when we were younger. The dinosaurs were as gigantic and awe-inspring as ever, and we spent a long time in the exhibition. However, this wasn't our favourite part of the museum...

The "Treasures" gallery is something I had never ever heard of before, but my friend and I thought it was amazing. It is a collection of 22 of the most remarkable objects in the museums collection, and we spent about 40 minutes just in this small room. This includes pages from the world's most expensive book: ("John James Audubon's Birds of America"), and my personal favourite, an emperor penguin egg collected on Captain Robert Falcon Scott's expedition to Antarctica. This was with the aim of finding a link between reptiles and birds by looking at the penguin's embryo. My friend and I were shocked and amazed by this story, and I went home and looked it up to find out more. Here's a video from the museum:

[kad_youtube url="https://youtu.be/PdBT670fiCQ" width=200 height=100 ]

Overall, my friend and I had a really great time at the Natural History museum. We learnt a lot and had a lot of fun interacting with the exhibits. However, we thought that the famous parts of the museum (the dinosaurs and the mammals) weren't as interesting as the rest of it. We definitely had a good time, but we won't be making a return visit, seeing as it hasn't really changed that much.

Entrance to the Natural History Museum is free, although there is a charge for some exhibitions. The Treasures Gallery is now undergoing refurbishment, but will reopen this summer.

Touring the UK's Largest Windfarm in Glasgow

[caption id="attachment_2436" align="alignnone" width="1200"] Pic courtesy of Whitelee Windfarm Visitor Centre[/caption]

Jess, aged 14, says: I am fascinated by the development sustainable energy sources, so I was really looking forward to visiting Whitelee Windfarm with my Grandma and my Uncle. Whitelee Windfarm contains 215 wind turbines spread out over 80km², making it the largest windfarm in the UK and one of the largest in Europe.

The visitor centre is only about 20 minutes from central Glasgow, so we drove there at around 11am. The air was cold but it was sunny and the sky was clear, meaning that we could marvel at the hundreds of windmills that stood before us. I'd never seen so many together before!

Entry to the windfarm and visitor centre was free, and we headed inside to try out the games and activities inside the exhibition. This was one large room, full of quizzes, interactive activities, and lots of information. I constructed my own wind turbine, learnt how they generate energy, and found out about the history of the site. We enjoyed the interactive exhibit which involved looking at the locations of the windmills, and picking which three we thought would generate the most power. Once we had picked, the model was turned on and the windmills spun round and round. Unfortunately none of us managed to generate the needed energy, but this was a fun insight into the management of a windfarm that we don't know about.

Next, I had my go at managing the power produced by the windfarm. I had to take into account aspects such as time of day and weather, and changed the locations of where the power was distributed to according to these variables. In reality, Whitelee Windfarm can generate 539 megawatts on a single day, which amazed me. This means that the windfarm powers 330,000 homes!

[caption id="attachment_2437" align="alignnone" width="1200"] Inside the exhibition (pic courtesy of Whitelee Windfarm Visitor Centre)[/caption]

We must have spent an hour in the exhibition - we watched videos, got fiercely competitive with strangers over a quiz (I'm pleased to say that I did the best in this), and took a look at the view of the site. We saw younger children partaking in an arts and crafts activity, but, being 13 at the time, I did not take part and instead we hopped on a tour bus to look around.

Bus tours around the site are only £3.50 for adults and £2.50 for children, and there was space for about 15 people on the bus. However, there was only one group there apart from our own, making the tour quiet and relaxing. Our tour guide was really kind and friendly, and encouraged us all to ask questions. He knew pretty much everything about the site, and told us some fascinating information.

Not only did we learn about the construction of the turbines, how they are controlled, and plans for the future, we also found out all about the site's ecosystem. There are lots of delicate flowers and animals in the area - there are over 145 plant species, 36 fungi species, 94 lichens, and a vast collection of birds, amphibians, reptiles, insects, and mammals. Apparently it is very rare to see one of these, but it is possible if you look very closely when walking by the turbines. The windfarm has over 90km of parks to walk and cycle down, but we preferred to stay on the bus.

The best part of our trip by far was stopping off by one of the turbines. I loved walking underneath it, listening to how loud it was, and marvelling at how tall and wide it was. I had seen many wind turbines in my life but had never realised how big they were!

Finally our trip was over. We had spent about two hours in total looking around the farm, and I had absolutely loved it. It was a really unique and astonishing place to visit that really opened up my eyes to the future of sustainable energy. What really made the site special was how interactive it is, meaning that it is great for adults and children alike. It was a really great experience, and I definitely recommend it if you have any free time in Glasgow.

Also in Scotland

Falkirk Wheel and Helix Park

Blair Drummond Safari Park

Science and Baseball Bats in Louisville, Kentucky (By Jess)

Last week, I spent a week in Louisville, Kentucky as part of the VEX IQ International Robotics Finals, which was a very exciting seven days indeed! We had a spare day in the city before the competition, so we decided to visit the Kentucky Science Center and the Louisville Slugger Museum, where the famous baseball bats are manufactured.

The Kentucky Science Center

[caption id="attachment_1226" align="aligncenter" width="940"] I visited the Louisville Science Museum in the morning[/caption]

We rushed into the Science Center first to escape the pouring rain, and quickly saw something which shocked us:

[caption id="attachment_1227" align="aligncenter" width="768"] We spotted a very unusual (and worrying) sign outside the museum[/caption]

There was lots to see and do inside the museum, and we starting by walking upstairs into an exhibition on the human body. This was a large room, full with information about the different functions of organs and organ systems. There were displays about the digestive, respiratory and circulation systems, and we enjoyed finding out our heart rate by holding on to a bar. There were lots of interactive exhibits, such as one where we had to team up with each other and press buttons to destroy viruses, and another where we had to mimic the human heartbeat. I knew most of the facts in the room but I am sure that my brother Robert wouldn't, and would have learnt a lot. Sadly, many of the exhibits were out of order and some were quite old.

[caption id="attachment_1231" align="aligncenter" width="940"] Standing inside a bubble, building a bridge and finding out about muscles![/caption]

There were lots of other exhibits taking place in the museum, which we all liked. One of my favourites was pulling a rope which created a bubble - this was extremely exciting, especially as I managed to get it up to my shoulders before my backpack popped it! We also created a bridge out of blocks, which took countless tries to finish. We were surprisingly proud to finally manage it...

Before we left, we decided to watch the 3D Film "Journey To Space" in the museum's cinema. The film was around 45 minutes long and was fascinating, talking about life in space and the challenges of reaching Mars. Although I am not a major fan of space exploration, the film was certainly interesting, and allowed me to think about the engineering challenges that a trip to space presents. The rest of the museum was aimed at younger children, so it was nice to have something aimed at the older members of the family.

The Louisville Slugger Museum

[caption id="attachment_1236" align="aligncenter" width="940"] The tallest baseball bat in the world outside the Louisville Slugger Museum[/caption]

After a pizza lunch just opposite the Science Center, it was a short two minute walk to the Louisville Slugger Museum, where the famous Louisville Baseball Bats are made. It was dangerously close to closing time so we had no chance to walk around the museum, but we had a walking tour around the factory instead.

None of us knew anything about baseball, but our tour guide was wonderfully useful at answering any questions we had. We walked through the factory, stopped at certain machines and watched videos. We were told that the factory produces 1.8 million baseball bats a year, and that they first arrive at the factory as billets (cylinders) of wood. When the factory was started, every bat was hand carved - taking up to half an hour to shape each one! Nowadays, there are machines which have countless of bat models saved, and each one can be made in 30 seconds. It only takes a click of a button to switch designs!

We got to see bats being dipped to get distinctive colours, and were shown how each bat gets the Louisville Slugger logo pressed onto it. My highlight of the tour was being given full-sized bats to hold, which was enthralling. At the end of the tour, we were given an opportunity to ask questions, and were all given a free mini bat to take home with us. The tour was quite short at only 30 minutes long, but our guide was really friendly and knowledgeable so we learnt a lot and had a great time.

Overall, we had a really exciting day visiting the Kentucky Science Center and the Louisville Slugger Museum. Our highlight of the day was definitely going on the walking tour of the Slugger Museum factory, and we wish that we had more time to visit the rest of the museum and go to the batting cages. I thought that the Science Center was quite old and not advanced enough, but I'm sure that younger children would really enjoy playing with the exhibits.

Despite the fab museums we visited in Louisville, my favourite part of the trip was eating at all the American chains, such as Applebee's; the portion sizes were gigantic!

To see the exhibits and the movie at the Science Center, adults are $20.00 and children (aged 2-12) are $15.00. Full pricing information can be found here.

To visit the Louisville Slugger Museum, adults are $12.00, seniors (aged 60+) are $11, kids (aged 6-12) are $7.00 and kids five and under are free.

 

More by us about science:

Churchill’s Scientists: An Exhibition at The Science Museum (By Jess)

Enjoying an educational day out in Winchester

We are so happy to have been shortlisted for the Bibs (Brilliance in Blogging Awards) for 2015, but we really need your help to get through to the final 5. Please could you visit this link and then scroll down to travel and then us (Family Travel Times)? We'd be so grateful. You don't have to vote in all categories, though there are lots of great blogs in there!

Churchill's Scientists: An Exhibition at The Science Museum

By Jess:

Over the weekend, I had a lovely time visiting the "Churchill's Scientists" exhibition with my cousin. I hadn't been to the Science Museum since August 2013, when we watched "The Energy Show". Therefore, I was really excited to go back and learn about Churchill's involvement with science during the war.

Churchill was the first UK prime minister to have a scientific adviser but few people are aware of his passion for the topic. This new exhibition aims to educate the public on the fascinating scientific developments that took place during his career.

As soon as we arrived, my cousin and I decided to go straight into the exhibition. We were greeted by a large sculpture of Churchill's head, and read columns written by him in newspapers. I was excited by essentially the world's first "onesie", a velvet green siren suit worn by Churchill during air raids. There was even a picture of him wearing it!

It was intriguing to learn about the development of atomic bombs, and we watched a film of Britain's first ones ever going off. We learnt that they decided to place it on an island off Australia in 1952, and even saw the high-speed camera that filmed the first milliseconds of the detonation of the bomb.

[caption id="attachment_1000" align="aligncenter" width="940"] The camera that captured the detonation of Britain's first atomic bomb.[/caption]

A large section of the exhibition was devoted to radar. I wish that I had known something about this before the day because I got slightly confused. By the end, I knew that radar is the sending out of radio waves which are reflected off the object back to the source, but I was still baffled as to how this could translate into a visual display for humans to use. We watched old introductory videos which were really cool, and looked at different maps and pieces of equipment, including the original radar receiver used by Robert Watson-Watt in an experiment to prove that radar works.

I absolutely loved seeing the cigar Churchill smoked on winning the election in 1951. He left it on the table after discovering his victory and it was never thrown away. It was brilliant to actually see Churchill smoking the cigar on film.

[caption id="attachment_1002" align="aligncenter" width="940"] A molecular model of Penicillin by Dorothy Hodgkin in 1945.[/caption]

Although those were the highlights of the exhibition, I enjoyed everything, such as learning about the development of penicillin and the creation of a ration system that cut down on food consumption while ensuring the nation was still healthy.

The whole exhibition was really engrossing and I learnt a lot. It was slightly complicated in places, but the majority was fine for someone my age (13). We saw so many incredible objects, and I loved seeing so many amazing films. I would definitely recommend a visit to the exhibition and the rest of the museum as it is free and there is a lot to see and do.

All photos are courtesy of The Science Museum

More exhibitions that I've been to and loved:

The Sherlock Holmes Exhibition at The Museum of London

A Visit To Kenwood House