White's Lights 2008 - Museum Fundraiser

Below are some great pictures and a short video from White's Lights. Please come check it out and support Imagination Station. It's $10 per car with all proceeds going to Imagination Station, Greenfield School, and WilMed Hospice. It's at 1106 Forest Hills Rd. Wilson NC. 6 pm - 10 pm every night through (and including) Christmas Eve.

12 Year Old Makes Breakthrough

A 12 year old has invented a solar cell that uses both visible and UV light to create energy. Read more here.

These are the kind of things Imagination Station hopes to inspire in the children that visit.

Science on Wheels in Style

Imagination Station's Science on Wheels program is now riding in style thanks to Hubert Vester Toyota of Wilson. Our Science on Wheels program serves over 30 eastern North Carolina counties. Last year, with this program alone, we brought science education to over 15,000 students. This generous gift from Hubert Vester Toyota will allow our educator to ride safely, but it will also attract some attention at the same time.

Below are pics of our old Science on Wheels vehicle followed by our new Scion. I think you'll see the difference.

Go Figure! Has Arrived

Our new exhibit Go Figure! arrived earlier this week. We should be announcing an opening date soon. We have some rearranging to do before we can set this one up. So, be sure to check in for the latest update!

Just a few of the crates the exhibit came in.

Thank You to Wilson Rotary Club

The Rotary Club of Wilson donated $6,300 to Imagination Station again this year raised from their annual golf tournament . This money will used to continue the effort to eliminate the outstanding debt of $650,000 the museum still has as a result of the fire of 2000. Thank you Wilson Rotary Club!


If you would like to contribute or hear more about our story please visit www.SaveOurScience.info.

New Exhibit Coming in September!

Go Figure! transforms charming children’s books into a kids-sized world where children and adults delight in exploring math and books. The exhibit offers hands-on, play-filled experiences with simple math concepts, and areas for children and adults to read together. Each environment offers a unique setting in which the vital link between parent and child is supported without being prescriptive. Parental interest and involvement can foster a child’s natural curiosity and intuitive sense of math, making a difference in school and later in life.

The five books it utilizes are:

Arthur’s Pet Business, by Marc Brown

The Doorbell Rang, by Pat Hutchins

The Quilt, by Ann Jonas

Frog and Toad Are Friends: A Lost Button, by Arnold Lobel

Goldilocks and the Three Bears, by James Marshall

We hope to have these books for sale in our gift shop as well, so you can take these important math activities and concepts home with your child for future interactive teaching experiences.

Below are some pictures to give you an idea of what the exhibit will be like.

Pre-K Through 3rd Grade Teacher Workshop

World's Smallest Snake

A US scientist has discovered the world's smallest snake. Click here for the full story.

Happy 50th NASA!

Happy 50th Birthday NASA!

Periodic Table Videos

There is a great resource here for learning about the elements that make up our universe. When you visit the page you can click on just about any element in the table and a video will come on giving some great information about it. They're not quite done with the project yet, but they're getting close. Below is a sample of one of the videos on Sodium (Na).

Beyond the Yellow Tape

Today marks the beginning of our camp "Beyond the Yellow Tape." We have 11 students participating in a week-long camp that will teach them the science behind crime investigation. It should be a fun and educational week for all. I will try to include some pictures from each day, so be sure to check back in.

Printing in 3-D

Imagination Station is now home to a Fab @ Home "fabber". Technically Fab @ Home is a desktop fabricator that can make almost anything (within reason) right on your desk. The term "printer" is to help people understand the concept that this is something that can connect to your home computer and create objects when you hit "print." See the video below to understand more about how these work. It will be a few weeks before we get ours on the floor, so check back in on the progress. We have to be sure we know how to use it and design a display case for it. But, when it's ready it will be available for all to watch it work!

The Power of Asking Why

Today marks the 225th anniversary of the first hot-air balloon flight. Two brothers, who were from a family of paper manufacturers, saw ash rising from burning paper. From that observation they concluded that the hot air made things rise. From there they made a hypothesis and tested different hot-air balloons. The first public demonstrations was on June 4th, 1783.

This demonstrates the power of curiosity. This is what happens when we teach children not to simply accept what they see, but to ask questions. These brothers could have simply looked at the ash rising and never thought about it again. After all, ash has been rising as long as there has been fire. But, they asked "why?"

We hope to teach children to ask "why?" and "how?" Who knows what they may see that we have overlooked for all of history.

HT: Google, Wikipedia

Wilson Daily Times Editorial Piece

The Wilson Daily Times ran a great editorial piece today supporting our museum. You can read the column here.

Iguana Enclosure is Finished

Yoshi, our Iguana, is now in his new home as well. Thanks to BB&T Mortgage two of our snakes and our Iguana have much better living facilities. We hope to continue to add more in the near future.

New Snake Enclosure is Finished

Here is the picture of our new 12 ft. wide snake enclosure. There are still a few finishing touches we have to put on it, but it is on display and fully functional.

By the end of the week we should have our new Iguana enclosure put together. Yoshi, our Iguana, has been in our Animal Care room for some time where our guests could not regularly see him. But, by the end of the week he will be on the floor for everyone to see!

Thank you BB&T Mortgage.

New Home for Reptiles

Our Colombian Red Tail Boa and Albino Burmese Python are getting a new home. Below is a picture of the unfortunately small tank that our 11 foot python was in.



Their new home is under construction and will be on display soon thanks to a generous donation from BB&T Mortgage.





Check back in for pictures of the completed display!

Thank you BB&T Mortgage!

Save Our Science Campaign

Dippin' Dots Come to Imagination Station

Every child’s favorite treat can now be purchased at Imagination Station. Imagination Station and Dippin’ Dots have entered into a partnership to make their ice cream available at the children’s science museum.

Dippin’ Dots uses liquid nitrogen to make their ice cream product, which makes it a natural fit for a science museum. “It gives us a chance to put a real-life practical application of science in the hands of children. We have a program where we use liquid nitrogen to teach states of matter” said Jonathan Brooks, director of Imagination Station. Dippin’ Dots founder Curt Jones is a microbiologist who pioneered the science of cryogenic encapsulation. This allowed them to make beads of ice cream that were frozen quickly giving it greater flavor and freshness.

Imagination Station is selling the pre-packaged Dippin’ Dots by the pack. There are many flavors available including chocolate, vanilla, chocolate chip cookie dough, cookies and cream, strawberry, mint chocolate, and others. The packs are $3.00 and can even be purchased without museum admission. “We want to make them available to anyone that would like to purchase them, but of course we would love for people to go ahead and visit the museum exhibits and reptiles while they are here” commented Brooks.

The local Dippin’ Dots franchisee made this possible by donating the necessary freezers and some of the initial stock of ice cream. In addition, Watson Electric donated their services to get outlets installed in the right places and ensuring the freezers would be on their own circuits. “This would have been much more difficult for us had Dippin’ Dots and Watson Electric not been so generous. We appreciate their willingness to help get this concept off the ground”, said Jonathan Brooks of Imagination Station.

A Dippin’ Dots franchise will be opening in Wilson sometime this summer in the new shopping center under construction in front of Lowe’s.

Why We Need Science Museums

This week's issue of Time magazine has an article entitled "How to Make Great Teachers." While the whole article in interesting, what caught my eye was the following:

"Recent test results show that U.S. 10th-graders ranked just 17th in science
among peers from 30 nations, while in math they placed in the bottom five."


Science museums are part of the solution. There are by no means the solution, but they have a unique contribution to make to the science education of American students. I know that our museum reaches almost 30,000 students a year with science experiences they would never be able to come across in the school system by itself.

The school system, on the other hand, is able to provide the ongoing instruction needed for students on a daily basis. It is a complex problem that will take all groups coming together to find a solution. America cannot afford to be 17th in science. Our future depends on it.