On Tuesday of last week we took a field trip with our home school support group to Boulder to the National Center for Atmospheric Research. This was a great trip. We had a huge group, so they split us up into two. Our group got to go to a classroom first for hands-on experiments. The first experiment was to show that there is air pressure. They did this by pushing two plungers together (squeezing all the air out) and then having the kids try to pull them apart without twisting or pulling at the edges. It couldn't be done.
Finally, they did this experiment to show how hot air rises and cool air sinks. They had long, skinny tank with a divider in the middle. They put hot water (colored red) in one end, and cold water (colored blue) at the other. When the colored water reached the divider, the instructor pulled out the divider. It was neat to watch the cold water push it's way across the tank. The red water stayed up high, and the blue water stayed low.
After that, we went to a small theater to watch a short video about NCAR. Then, we got to play with the hands-on activities in the Exploration Hall. The favorite was the mini-tornado generator.
When we had spent about 20 minutes in the Exploration Hall, we got to go on a tour of the rest of the building. The best thing was seeing the computer they use to generate all their atmospheric models.
Next they learned about high pressure and low pressure. They took a small piece of wadded up paper and put it in the edge of a water bottle held horizontally. Then they tried to blow the paper into the water bottle. The paper jumped out every time! This showed that when they blew air into the bottle, they were creating high pressure in the bottle.
Finally, they did this experiment to show how hot air rises and cool air sinks. They had long, skinny tank with a divider in the middle. They put hot water (colored red) in one end, and cold water (colored blue) at the other. When the colored water reached the divider, the instructor pulled out the divider. It was neat to watch the cold water push it's way across the tank. The red water stayed up high, and the blue water stayed low.
After that, we went to a small theater to watch a short video about NCAR. Then, we got to play with the hands-on activities in the Exploration Hall. The favorite was the mini-tornado generator. 
When we had spent about 20 minutes in the Exploration Hall, we got to go on a tour of the rest of the building. The best thing was seeing the computer they use to generate all their atmospheric models.
I think if you sign up in advance as a group (you have to), you can pick which topic to have them teach for the classroom time. We had such a broad range (from K all the way up to junior high at least, if not high school) that we picked Weather Forecasting. But, if you had a narrow age range, or could split your kids into narrower age ranges, you could pick even more interesting topics. Well worth the trip to Boulder.
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