Science Alive!

Science Alive is a lineup of exciting demonstrations, live science experiments, and engaging presentations by our amazing staff and volunteer educators! Explore the offerings below.

Science Encounters 

Location: Museum 1st Floor (outside entrance to Expedition Earth) at mobile Science Encounter Cart

Schedule: Tuesday–Friday: 2:15pm | Saturday & Sunday: 11:15am, 1:15pm, 3:15pm 

Awaken your curiosity with our captivating Science Encounters during weekends and school breaks at the RMSC! 

Stop by our Science Encounter station to learn about physics, chemistry, meteorology, and everything in between! Observe our staff and volunteers demonstrate fun and exciting science and make even the most complex topics engaging and accessible to children and adults of all ages. With a dozen experiments in our line up, there are plenty of opportunities to reward your curiosity!

The Science Encounter station is located at the end of the Museum lobby near the main staircase. The station is staffed on weekends and school break days from 10–10:50am, 12–12:50pm, and 2–2:50pm.

Electricity Theater

Location: Museum’s 3rd Floor

Schedule: Tuesday & Thursday: 4pm (or by request) | Saturday & Sunday: 11:30am, 12:30pm, 1:30pm, 2:30 pm, 3:30pm 

Electricity Theater shows occur on weekends and daily during school breaks and summertime at: 11:30am, 12:30pm, 1:30pm, 2:30pm, and 3:30pm. 

Featuring two six-foot Tesla coils, this musical electricity show is a must-see! One of only a handful of experiences like it across the United States, Electricity Theater amazes visitors as arcs of lightning illuminate the room to the sounds of their favorite tunes. Come see an Electricity Theater show to see the Coils in action and learn about their namesake, Nikola Tesla!*

Science On a Sphere

Location: Museum’s 2nd Floor

Schedule: Saturdays & Sunday: noon, 2:00pm (schedule subject to change)

Satiate your curiosity for space, weather, climate, and nature with Science on a Sphere. Join our experienced “Edu-tainers” in the Science on a Sphere Data Theater on Saturdays, Sundays, and school breaks to experience the capabilities of this life-sized spherical projection system through presentation topics such as tsunamis, hurricanes, Earth’s magnetic field, the moon, and the sun.*

Outside of weekend and school break showtimes, Science on a Sphere runs on an automated loop.

3D Printing

Location: Museum’s 3rd Floor

Schedule: Monday–Friday: 3:15pm 

Discover how 3-D printing works. Visit us on the 3rd floor to learn about 3-D printing materials, explore objects printed at the RMSC, and watch an object being printed in real-time! 

Inventor Center Challenges

Every 4-5 months in the RMSC Inventor Center, Third Floor
Schedule: Tuesday–Friday: noon–4pm | Saturday: 10:30am–4pm | Sunday: 10am–4pm

We proudly present a fascinating “maker space!” You can participate in engineering and design challenges as you tinker with raw materials to create working inventions that can be tested and shared. 

Our Inventor Center encourages you to explore the thrilling process of invention. As the first phase of a developing exhibition focused on innovation, the Inventor Center includes a series of participatory stations: learn, build, test, and share. Learn about a problem, build a prototype, test your results, and share your ideas or inventions with others (not necessarily in that order). Hop into the process at any point and see what you can do! 

Featured Programming

Location: Museum Exhibit Galleries; TBD as announced

Visit our current featured exhibition, Changemakers: Rochester Women who Changed the World, and stop by the Changemakers-themed craft tables on the 3rd floor outside of Reidman Gallery. Kids will enjoy activities like making bookmarks, painting self-portraits, and writing poems while learning about featured women from the exhibit.

Check our social media pages and home webpage for more information about special programming during school break weeks!

Thank you to our Sponsors!

Corning Incorporated Foundation