Discover Engineering Family Day
Become a creative inventor, engineer, and mathematician for a day!
A boy explores robotics at the annual Discover Engineering Family Day.
Photo by F.T. Eyre
Saturday, February 20, 2010
10:00 am-4:30 pm
The National Building Museum and the National Engineers Week Foundation invite you to debunk the myths of engineering and discover how professional engineers turn an idea into reality. Celebrate National Engineers Week by participating in this free, hands-on and fun-filled festival!
Discover Engineering Family Day is a FREE, drop-in program. $5 donation suggested. Program and activities are most appropriate for children ages 5 to 13 with adult supervision. Registration is not required.
At Discover Engineering Family Day visitors can:
- BUILD a carbon nanotube made of balloons in the Great Hall
- PLAY Power Up, IBM's 3D interactive game
- WATCH Nate Ball, host of PBS’s Design Squad as he rappels from the Museum’s balcony using his invention -- the ATLAS powered rope ascender. Build your own ascenders, capable of carrying a ping pong ball four feet down a zip-line.
- DESIGN a tesselation
- TOUCH competition robots at the Robot Petting Zoo
- MAKE slime
- MEET and take a picture with Digit from the PBS series Cyberchase
- EXPLORE electricity with a breadboard
- CREATE a flinker, something that neither floats nor sinks
- LEARN about the science of popcorn with principles of thermodynamics
- ENJOY the play Builder Bill and the Bewildering Bucket, a special performance for 4-9 year olds presented by the National Children's Museum
And much, much more!
Scouts
Activities at the festival will assist scouts in fulfilling some requirements for the following badges. Activities are subject to change. A worksheet with a complete list of activities and the requirements they fulfill will be available the day of the event at the Scout Information Table. Scouts who pre-register will receive this worksheet in advance by email.
- Tiger Cub Scouts: Make a Model
- Wolf Cub Scouts: Family Fun, Spare-Time Fun, and Machine Power
- Bear Cub Scouts: Family Fun, Build-a-Model, and Aircraft
- WEBELOS: Craftsman, Engineer, and Scientist
- Boy Scouts: Engineering
Visit the Discover Engineering Family Day Website to learn more about the festival.
Sponsors
Major funding for the Discover Engineering Family Day is provided by the National Engineers Week Foundation and IEEE-USA. Additional support is provided by IBM Corporation, National Science Foundation, and the Semiconductor Industry Association; with local support provided by American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers Nation’s Capital Chapter; U.S. Navy Nuclear Propulsion Program; and ExxonMobil Corporation. Family Magazine is the official media partner of the 2010 Discover Engineering Family Day.
