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Science students to travel to Windy City over spring break

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March 26, 2010

Lindsay Huth

Learning about science is as easy as pie for some students – deep-dish pizza pie, that is. Over spring break, 21 science scholars will travel to Chicago for four days to visit laboratories and museums and, of course, eat pizza.

“I think this is a great chance to be immersed in science for four days,” trip chaperone and science teacher Judy Mohan said. “On field trips we don’t get to visit all of the cool places we could. We will get to see everything from physical to life science in a community that values it.”

The excited students will embark on their science tour on Tuesday, Apr. 6, and, after the seven-hour bus ride, tour Fermilab where energy, intensity and cosmic physics are studied. Experiments such as colliding particles in particle accelerators that are miles in diameter and exploring matter in space occur at the lab.

The following day, the young scientists will visit Argonne National Laboratory, a U.S. Department of Energy lab that investigates alternative and nuclear energy, energy storage, ecological systems and national security technology.

“I am most looking forward to seeing the Argonne lab,” junior Ian Drake said. “They have a particle accelerator there!”

At the Shedd Aquarium, the group will explore its collection of undersea wildlife including octopi, whales, eels and sharks from locations such as the Caribbean reef, the Amazon, the Pacific Northwest and the Indo-Pacific reef.

“The part to which I am looking forward the most is the trip to the Shedd Aquarium, which I very vaguely remember visiting once before when I was either 4 or 5 years old,” senior David Breen said.

After exploring the depths of the ocean below, the students will tour the expanse of the sky above at the Adler Planetarium. Later, they will discover natural history at the Field Museum which features exhibits about evolution, fossils, ecosystems and even Sue, the 13-foot tall dinosaur that is the largest, most complete, best preserved T. Rex fossil.

“I am really excited about going to the Field Museum because it concentrates on living things,” Mohan said. “I am looking forward to seeing the insect zoo there.”

On the last day, Friday, Apr. 9, the group will view the city from atop the Sears Tower, the tallest building in the Western Hemisphere, before heading to the Museum of Science and Industry which boasts Chicago’s greenest home, an Omnimax theater and exhibits covering everything from transportation to genetics.

Of course, the group will take time to relax as well by shopping at Chicago Premium Outlets and on Michigan Avenue, watching movies and enjoying deep-dish pizza.
The trip is the fifth time science teacher Matt Bryant has brought a group to Fermilab, the last trip being two summers ago. New additions to trip include excursions to the Shedd Aquarium, Adler Planetarium, Field Museum and Sears Tower.

“I hope when the kids go to the labs they will learn about science and see how much work it takes to do interesting science,” Bryant said. “I hope they are inspired and it peaks their interest to investigate something.”

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