Paleontology Exhibit Hall
Miocene Exhibit Hall
Step back in time 5 million years and unearth the past while exploring the science of fossils and paleontology in the Miocene Exhibit Hall. Get a glimpse into the processes, tools, and technology used to unearth fossils right in our own backyard at the Gray Fossil Site. View articulated replicas of specimens found on site, explore deeper with computer-animated games and challenges, and even dig in a faux dig pit.
Wentzscope
Take a closer look at specimens with our large-lens microscope made for easy viewing. Slides include a termite, ant, dirt, bacteria, and an earthworm.
Saltville Paleontology Exhibit Hall
View a variety of specimens excavated in Saltville, VA ranging from a Mastodon tooth to a Giant Short-Faced Bear skull.
Discovery Lab
Grab a pair of safety goggles and dive into a hands-on experiment! Engage with our staff as you ask questions, make observations, and explore chemistry, biology, physics, earth sciences, and more! With an ever-changing array of themes, programming, and activities, the excitement never ends. Explore the dynamic world of science and its wonders through engaging, inquiry-based experiments and demonstrations sure to inspire the scientist within. Self-guided activities available all day with facilitated programs announced periodically.
Atrium
Tesla Experience Theater
Witness an electrifying, Guinness record-holding experience that honors the great inventor, Nikola Tesla. Watch in amazement as the world’s most powerful, musical, bi-polar Tesla coil turns 240 volts into 200,000. Tesla Experience Shows are offered at 10:30 am, 12:30 pm, 2:30 pm, and 4:30 pm. Stop by the front desk for more details or to purchase tickets, $2 each with general admission. Click here to learn more.
This exhibit space is sponsored by Brightridge.
Paleontology Climbing Tower
Experience a one-of-a-kind paleontology-themed climber! This three-story interactive tower allows children and adults to discover the fossils of species endemic to the Gray Fossil Site. As you ascend each level and pass each corner you will see and touch actual 3D replicated models of the fossils being uncovered here at the site. This unique structure is the only of its kind in the United States.
Topobox
Create an endless display of various forms of topography with this mesmerizing augmented reality sandbox. Simply move the sand around to create different geographic formations. From mountains to valleys to river deltas to flood plains, watch the water flow and collect over various watersheds. Explore geography, geology, weather, and more! This exhibit is sponsored by Cardinal Financial – Tuan Nguyen.
Main Exhibit Hall
Air Cars
Experience Newton’s Third Law of Motion while racing a friend to the finish line! Test out a pre-made vehicle, or combine different frames, gears, wheels, and mechanisms to make a unique creation. Explore the effects of varying the air pressure to achieve a different result with each race.
Air Rockets
Choose a rocket or build your own, then place it on the launchpad to experience Sir Isaac Newton’s First Law of Motion first hand! Explore the effects of varying air pressure and visit the rocket maker station for even more opportunity to experiment with different rocket designs. This exhibit is sponsored by Tevet.
Bernoulli Table
Suspend balls in mid-air while exploring the science of how objects are able to fly as if they are lighter than air! Try to toss a ball and “catch” it in a stream of air, or suspend a ball in each air stream simultaneously before the timed air flow runs out.
Circuit Bench
Connect a maze of circuits to complete a connection with the gadget you wish to spin, sound-off, or light up. It’s an oversized take on a snap circuit. Explore the different amounts of energy needed to power different gadgets. Explore how activating multiple components at once changes the effort required at the hand-crank.
Colorful Shadows
Step in front of the wall to make shadows of three different colors—yellow, magenta, and cyan. All three of your shadows will wiggle, jump, and dance along with you in unison. Explore how the overlapping colors combine in an unexpected patchwork of black, white, red, green, and blue. How can three colored lights make so many different hues?
Everbright
Everbright is a large-scale interactive light wall, inspired by the classic Lite-Brite toy. It’s a grid of hundreds of adjustable LED dials that turn endlessly in either direction through the color spectrum. Explore colors, experiment with hues, and design abstract patterns and geometric shapes. Everbright gives you an outlet for unique creative expression.
Infinity Mirror
Take a look through the eye holes into the space between the mirrors. Images seem to repeat forever using mirrors in a strategic arrangement. If you’ve ever been between two mirrors that face each other, such as in a barbershop or a salon, you’re familiar with the seemingly endless line of images. How many of yourself do you see?
Magnetic Gear Wall
Get your visit in high gear by arranging the magnetic gear wheels to engineer a colorful, complex, multi-cog system. How many wheels can you spin at once?
One in a Million
Are you feeling lucky? Hidden among the thousands and thousands of small black beads is one special yellow bead. Rotate the clear acrylic tube to shift and stir up the beads, but keep your eye out for that lucky yellow bead!
Oscylinderscope
Take this interactive sculpture for a spin! Strum the guitar strings while the black and white cylinder is spinning to visually demonstrate how vibrating strings can produce sound. As the cylinder is spinning, your eyes retain a series of momentary images of the strings in motion, and you brain combines these images to create a mesmerizing wave pattern.
Pin Wall
Make an impression with our life-size Pin Art Wall. Similar to pixels on a monitor, our Pin Wall uses thousands of injection-molded pins to create a detailed representation of almost any object. Create a three-dimensional image of yourself or other objects simply by touching the pins.
PVC Pipe Organ
Whack the open ends of large PVC tubes with foam paddles to create musical tones. Make up your own songs or use the included songbook. Your symphony awaits!
Ring Launcher
Crank a generator to charge the capacitors to send an aluminum ring flying high from the launch pad. Experiment with different ring sizes, weights, and air pressure to achieve different results. Get ready for launch!
Sail Cars
Select a sail car base and sail from a variety of shapes, colors, and sizes to create a custom sail car. Place the sail car on the platform and presses the button to turn on the fans. Your vessel must zig-zag, or “tack”, from starboard to port to reach a destination. Experiment with different sail sizes, shapes, and angles to discover which combinations sail the fastest. Sail away!
Shake Table
Shake things up while exploring the effects of vibration on physical structures. By changing the frequency of vibration, find harmonic frequencies within your structure and explore options to increase your structure’s ability to withstand vibration. Your mission is to engineer a miniature earth-quake proof structure, then turn the dial to start an earthquake simulation.
Tot Spots
Designed for younger children ages infant to age 3, our Tot Spots offer the opportunity for discovery on the smallest of scales. With a variety of costumes for role-playing, and manipulatives for fine motor skill development, there is something to keep every tot engaged. A total of three Tot Spots include STEM careers, farming, nature exploration, and paleontology are located throughout both buildings.
Vertical Flyer
Fly over to select a paper cone to make your own propeller by cutting a custom design. Once you are ready to test your creation, press the button to turn on the fan and place your cone into the air column. Test out different flyer designs to discover which designs fly highest, accelerate fastest, and stay in the air column the longest. Up, up, and away we go!
Mezzanine
Fossil Preparatory Lab and Fossil Collections Viewing Windows
Get an up-close view of the work that goes on behind the scenes after digging in the field at the Gray Fossil Site. Check out recent finds and projects, and watch real paleontologists and other scientists at work.
Regional Archaeology Hall
Step back in time by taking a stroll down the Archaeology Hall. View the Objects from Everyday Life and A Vibrant Crossroad collections in the Early Native American People in East Tennessee cases. In addition, explore the gallery wall of regional artifact excavations in which staff and volunteers have participated.
Outside
Dig Site Viewing Deck
Get a bird’s eye view from a viewing deck at the amazing work that happens every day on an active paleontology dig site. Get a rare glimpse into the fascinating process in which fossils are searched for, discovered, identified, and excavated, all in real-time on location. Watch in amazement as new discoveries are being made every day!
Discovery Garden
The Discovery Garden features a wide variety of native trees, shrubs, grasses, vines, and flowering perennials that were selected to attract pollinating insects and animals that play an important role in the food chain and ecosystem. Many of these were also found here 5 million years ago during the Pliocene epoch when the fossil site was a watering hole that attracted the animals that are being uncovered today. There is also an outdoor fossil replica dig pit and two Seed to Table exhibits that allow visitors to discover how agriculture is connected to their everyday lives.
The Discovery Garden is open seasonally, weather permitting.
Scheu Family Exhibit Hall & Art Studio in the General Shale Learning Center
Catenary Arch
Use a curved and numbered set of blocks to put together one of the most important shapes in architecture. This self-supporting arch demonstrates catenary curves, similar to what form naturally when you suspend a chain or rope by its ends.
Draw Alive
This dynamic and interactive exhibit brings art and technology together making your 2D drawings come to life. Select a creature and color it any way you want. Then, scan your masterpiece and watch as it appears in the wall-size environment moving around and interacting with other creatures. Three themes, marine life, dinosaurs, and planes are changed out daily so each visit can be a new experience! This exhibit was sponsored by Tri-Cities Airport Authority.
Echo Tubes
These squiggly metal tubes are definitely fun to look at, but they can help sound travel too. Whisper into one of the ends of the echo tube and have someone else listen for it on the other end. It will sound as clear as if they are standing right next to you!
Everblocks
Explore principles of science, technology, engineering, math, and design! See what you can build with these giant, interlocking, plastic blocks.
Gravity Dish
Roll one or more balls around in this funnel-shaped exhibit to see the forces of gravity and momentum interact. Send balls spinning around the center before disappearing into a hole to get an idea of how gravity and momentum keep planets orbiting around our Sun.
Imagination Playground
These great big blue blocks are made out of dense foam and are easy to stack, line up, and move even for the novice builder. Bricks, cylinders, angles, curves, chutes, hinges, gears, and channels encourage motion and connectivity. Enjoy an endless variety of play including construction, pretend play, and even role-playing.
Keva Planks
Construct incredible and even stunning structures by simply stacking uniform shape and size maple planks. Create a building, tower, vehicle, animal, or even letters. The simplicity is compelling and you are only limited by your imagination. What will you create?
Kinetic Wall
This dynamic experience gives guests an opportunity to elevate their learning and develop a foundation in physical science. Build a path with a large assortment of magnetic tracks, chutes, tubes, spinners, and other features then evaluate your design using a variety of balls to test out different physics principals including friction, inertia, and gravity.
Rigamajig
Build with a variety of large-scale construction pieces that encourage the exploration of simple machines. The collection includes gears, planks, pulleys, wheels, nuts, bolts, and rope. Rigamajig inspires three-dimensional thinking and creativity. What can you think up?
Art Studio
Let your imagination and creativity soar in this exhibit where you can find your inner artist. Kids and adults of all ages can participate in self-guided art activities that stretch the imagination and offer freedom of expression using a variety of unique materials, tools, and processes. The materials, themes, and activities of the space continually change to continue engaging visitors with new methods and experiences. Most importantly, no matter the theme or week, visitors have the opportunity to explore, create, play, and learn in this creative space.
Static Dome
The Static Dome consists of a transparent hemisphere containing small foam beads that seemingly fly and float around. Using various materials as “charging pieces”, visitors can create a static charge in the beads inside of a transparent dome. When the two objects are rubbed together, some of the electrons are removed from one atom and are transferred to another atom. The result is a whirlwind static storm!
