City on the Move

Count, touch, manipulate, experiment, and explore: that’s what science is all about!  Take a journey through science, math, and technology in this exhibit, based on the City of Chicago.

Things to Do: 
  • Make fascinating shapes with elastic bands on the Sears Tower Geoscraper.
  • Create patterns on a giant manhole-shaped pegboard.
  • Design city scenes with geometric shapes.
  • Explore place value by using Base 10 blocks to build skyscrapers.
  • Place numbers on the balance scale to experiment with computation.
  • Watch time-lapse videos of various areas in Chicago to find out how people spend their days.
  • Roll balls down vertical paths to test gravity.
  • Crank a wheel to create electricity to power a pretend John Hancock Center.
  • Manipulate with magnets and test positive and negative poles.
  • Connect interlocking gears to make a clock tell time.
  • Discover whether balls, eggs, cones, blocks or other objects will float on jet streams of air.
Learning Outcomes: 
  • Solve numeric equations.
  • Explore and create patterns and geometric shapes.
  • Explore and describe times of day.
  • Create structures and relate them to numbers and place value.
  • Use computers to solve mathematical problems and scientific problems.
  • Experiment with the force of gravity.
  • Conduct experiments with objects and air-flow.
  • Utilize human energy to power a light.
  • Explore the properties of magnets.
  • Connect gears to power a clock.

Underwritten by ComEd, an Exelon Company, with additional support from CN