Modern science museums are able to transform education into an entertaining game and to tell about physics, chemistry, biology and astronomy in an exciting form that will be equally interesting for children, who are usually bored in the classroom, and adults, who with the everyday life concerns have already forgotten how wisely our world is arranged.
Polytechnic Museum
For many Muscovites and guests of the capital, some of the most vivid childhood memories are associated with this museum. A variety of technical spheres are presented in 65 halls – Mining, Metallurgy, Chemical Engineering, Automation & Computer Engineering, Communications, Optics, Meteorology, Space, Energy, and Transportation. And the exposition “Cars with “living” motors”, or “Bike topics” is the only museum project in Russia, entirely dedicated to the history of the bike. The interactive division “Technoplay” is open, where you not only can, but need to touch most of the exhibits, with your hands. In addition to self-experimentation, for individual requests the museum’s experts will show many simple and entertaining experiments during the lecture-demonstrations with “Entertaining physics”, “Entertaining mechanics”, “Live Mechanics” and “Antiquity – long ago or recently? “, which will reveal the essence of the great laws of physics. By the way, in the large auditorium of Polytechnic Museum the famous poetry evenings are held up to this day.
Eureka
The Eureka educational centre is a huge complex where modern science and technology are becoming clear, even to kids. The main exhibition is devoted to the human body, the laws of physics and natural phenomena. Visitors can procure energy or create paper with their own hands. If you wish to leave the Earth and go to explore the secrets of the universe, you should visit a unique planetarium – the cinema “Verne” with a semi-circle hall of an area of 500 sq/m. On the territory of the Eureka educational park there is a botanical garden created on the basis of classification of plants by Carla Lynne, and a collection of minerals from the rock types of Finland is presented there. And do not forget to visit the “Magnet” shop – gifts for children and adults sold here cannot be found anywhere else in the world!
NEMO
The largest Dutch research centre stands ready to share its secrets with everyone. This immersion in the world of science and technology will not be dull: all significant information is presented in the form of exciting games. Not to teach but to inspire – this is the main idea of the museum, where you can experiment and not just passively absorb knowledge. All exhibits are interactive: visitors are allowed to touch, pull, and press on anything. First of all, the museum is for children from 6 to 16 years, as well as for their older brothers and sisters, parents, grandparents – it will be interesting to all.
Corpus
How well do you know your body? In this unusual museum, you can go to a trip inside the human body. The building is visible from afar – it is a huge red-orange figure in form of a sitting male. Visitors come in and gradually move from one organ to another. This trip is interesting and informative for everyone both young and old, because everyone is curious and it would be useful for them to know what’s going on inside it. The visiting time of this museum is better to book in advance via the website.
Deutsches Museum
In this museum you can see more than 100 thousand different items from submarines to gas turbines, from windmills to medical equipment. Models, telling about the steam engine or oil processing refinery, are executed with the typical German meticulousness. All aspects of industrial production appear before the eyes. Several museum rooms are arranged especially for children – there are exhibits that entertain kids starting from 3 years.
American Museum of Natural History
American Museum of Natural History was founded 150 years ago, and as everything in this country, strikes with the obsession with grand-scale projects. The museum complex consists of 25 buildings, in the depths of which are stored more than 30 millions of exhibits. Here you can see the layout of the largest mammal – the blue whale in natural size, the largest blue sapphire – the “Star of India”, a huge 18-meter battle canoe, a 34-ton meteorite, and an extensive collection of dinosaurs.
Milan National Museum of Science and Technology of Leonardo da Vinci
Milan National Museum of Science and Technology of Leonardo da Vinci is the largest in Italy. It is dedicated to the great gift of the Italian genius and keeps the best collection of technical achievements of Leonardo. In the exhibitions you can see the devices and machines created by the projects of the Renaissance master. Some of these models are working. Thousands of unique pictures, far ahead of the time of the inventor, are also represented in the exhibit, among which the image of a diving-suit, an armoured car and a parachute.
