Page 112 - HMS 2020

STEM Trip to Florida
Shining a spotlight on science in the most fun way imaginable!
Science Centre and Dinosaur Park
We launched our trip at the Science Centre in Orlando where we saw a fascinating exhibition on Artificial Intelligence and discovered how robots have been developed from very simple cogs and levers to the complex ones that now run driverless cars such as the Tesla taxi service!
In the afternoon we visited the Dinosaur Park in Tampa where we had great fun seeing the life-size dinosaurs. We also enjoyed an archaeological ‘dig’ and had to uncover different types of fossils using the same techniques palaeontologists would use. We even got to keep the fossils!
Kennedy Space Centre
As we drove towards the Kennedy Space Centre we could see the launch pads and the huge buildings which are the largest single storey buildings in the world. First on the agenda was visiting the incredible space shuttle Atlantis! We learnt about how astronauts cope with life in space and tried out tunnels like the ones in the International Space Centre. All the staff
at KSC have worked at NASA so they had great stories to tell about shuttle and rocket launches and how science has helped their careers.
In the afternoon we had a bus tour of the back areas and launch pads. It was great to get up close to where the rockets are built, tested and launched. We also learnt how NASA impacts the natural environment each time they test or launch a rocket. It was really interesting to hear that the animals and birds seem to know when a launch is going to happen and leave about 24 hours beforehand. We also saw the largest and oldest bald eagle nest which is the same size as a double bed! The nest has been at KSC for 54 years and is used every year by the same pair of birds.