Roadschooling: Edgerton Explorit Center, Aurora, NE

Continuing west in Nebraska, we had a chance to meet up with another fulltime family and spend a couple of days with them. They suggested we spend a day exploring in the Edgerton Explorit Center in Aurora, about half an hour away from where we are staying. Since the science museum is part of the ASTC we get in for free with our ASTC membership card. This takes all pressure off and we felt like we could take it easy in the morning and let the kids catch up on some "normal" school before going there.

This Science museum is the smallest we have visited so far. But it should not be judged by its size. The main part was one big room with many different exhibits that you could explore and learn from. Everything in this room was hands-on and very engaging.

The first thing we tried was to "lift" a ball with mind power. It was tricky to get it to work but really exciting when the ball finally lifted up into the air.

Our friends and we were the only people there so it was possible to set Micah free to explore on his own without him getting in peoples way. He loved a couple of exhibits with lights and mirrors. This one confused him at first. Where did the other Micahs come from?

Peter got really into the dancefloor that lit up and played different notes as he landed on the different squares.

Emelie did not want to lay on a bed of nails but after some encouragement, she laid down and although it did hurt a little she thought it was really cool.

One of my favorites was this array of mirrors that, if you stood in the right spot, all filled up with your face. I do like it better with these two faces instead of my own.

Peter loves all things mechanical and spent a good bit of time rearranging things with this robotic arm.

Emelie wanted to be inside a soap-bubble and you can see from her expression that it was an exciting experience.

There were many more exhibits than those that I have shown here and it was easy to spend several hours exploring and figuring things out. With no other people there I noticed that the kids often went back to a favorite and did it all over again. And not just the kids, we all did the same.

My personal favorite was in a side room, like a long corridor next to the main area, dedicated to Doc Edgerton that has given his name to the museum. He was an M.I.T professor that is most know for capturing high-speed events on camera using a stroboscope. You might have seen his picture of a speeding bullet going through an apple. He spent many years trying to capture the perfect splash from a drop of milk. I did not have the same time or equipment but managed to capture this slightly blurry picture of a splashing drop.

This picture was taken using video since I had no way of timing my camera to the stroboscope freezing the image of the drop in the exhibit. It is so fascinating how a quick flash of light can freeze an image, not just for a camera, but also for the human eye. I could have spend a lot more time just watching the drops in the stroboscope create these beautiful splash-patterns.

If you ever find yourself in this part of Nebraska I would recommend a visit to Edgerton Explorit Center. We spent maybe about 4 hours there and it was enough for us. If it had been crowded it probably would have taken longer to see and try all the things we did and we would have needed more time. Getting the whole place all to ourselves was a great bonus of going mid-week offseason. We love when we can explore without the crowds.