Field Trips

Information for Teachers

Great Lakes Science Center is committed to providing the highest quality science experiences to this region’s students. Water: H₂O = Life offers students a remarkable learning experience by providing them with an in-depth look at one of the most pressing environmental challenges of the 21st century: humanity’s sustainable management and use of this
life-giving, but finite, resource. As an added feature, Great Lakes Science Center offers special water-themed hands-on programming that can further enhance your field trip experience.

Our commitment to science education also extends to teachers. We are pleased to offer a day-long water-themed workshop this winter for educators:

Alliance for the Great Lakes Workshop
Saturday, January 23
8am - 4:30pm
Fee: $50
Register at 216-621-2400.

Registration fee includes Great Lakes in My World Curriculum guide and associated materials, lunch, parking, and admission Great Lakes Science Center exhibits, including Water: H20=Life.

Planning Your Field Trip

Student groups receive discounted admission. For rates, reservations and complete field trip information, click here.

Water: H₂O = Life Educator Guide

Make the most of your visit to Great Lakes Science Center. The Water: H₂O = Life Educator Guide contains suggestions to help teachers come prepared, strategies for teaching while in the exhibition and activities to extend learning when students are back in the classroom. Get the Water: H₂O = Life Educator Guide here.

Water-Themed Programs for Students

Great Lakes Science Center offers field trip students a number of special water-themed demonstrations and cart activities. These special programs are available upon request. Please call 216-621-2400 for more information.

Hands-On Demonstrations

Who Sank the Boat?
Preschool – Kindergarten
FREE
Explore the properties of water while you get your hands wet. We experiment with density as we predict what items will sink or float.

Lake Erie Web of Life I
Kindergarten - 2nd grade
FREE
30 minutes
In nature, there are living and non-living things that interact with each other. Students work together to find ways that animals and plants depend on each other for survival.

Lake Erie Web of Life II
3rd - 5th grade
FREE
30 minutes
Students play the roles of producers and consumers as they interact to build a food web and observe how the flow of energy changes when the ecosystem is disrupted.

Lake Erie Workshop
6th - 12th grade
$1 per student
45 minutes
Mighty battles happen in a single drop of Lake Erie's water. This workshop turns each student into a biologist investigating organisms and their role in the ecosystem. Students are asked to question why and how these organisms exist and explore their possible impact on human life.

Interactive Cart Activities

What's in Lake Erie?
FREE
Investigate and observe the organisms found in a drop of water from the lake. Subject to availability.

What's Inside a Fish?
FREE
Discover a fish dissection activity that turns “yuck” in to “WOW.” Subject to availability.