Saint Louis Science Center Explorer Guide — Middle & High School

Turn a trip to the Science Center into a hands-on scientific investigation!

The Quill and Canyon Saint Louis Science Center Explorer Guide is designed specifically for middle and high school students who are ready to do more than push buttons and look at exhibits. This 22-page field guide challenges students to observe, question, experiment, and think like scientists as they explore the Saint Louis Science Center.

From space exploration and dinosaurs to engineering, agriculture, Earth science, and the science behind museum exhibits, students are encouraged to interact with the Science Center in a completely different way.

What Students Will Explore

🚀 Space & St. Louis History

• Explore the history of the Science Center, beginning with the 1963 McDonnell Planetarium.
• Investigate St. Louis' role in the Mercury and Gemini space programs.
• Explore real spacecraft, meteorites, and the McDonnell Planetarium.
• Consider the question: Is human space exploration worth the cost?

🦖 Dinosaurs & Deep Time
Students investigate how paleontologists reconstruct extinct animals from fossil evidence and learn how scientists use inference, comparison, and evidence to understand the past.

🌎 Explore the Galleries
Students can explore hands-on exhibits throughout the Science Center, including:

• McDonnell Planetarium
• Mission: Mars & Space Galleries
• Ecology, Environment & Dinosaurs
• Structures & the Sky Bridge
• GROW: The Science of Food
• Hands-On Halls
• Energy Stage
• OMNIMAX Theater

🔬 Experiment Like a Scientist

The activities turn the exhibits themselves into scientific investigations. Students will:

• Complete an observation-based scavenger hunt
• Choose an interactive exhibit and conduct a real experiment
• Form a hypothesis and identify a variable
• Record observations and analyze results
• Attend a live demonstration or planetarium show
• Interview an educator, presenter, astronomer, or YES teen
• Complete an engineering design challenge
• Explore the concept of deep time
• Test a science claim and investigate reliable evidence
• Design their own interactive science exhibit

🧠 Built for Critical Thinking

This isn't a simple worksheet packet. Students are asked to make predictions, test ideas, analyze evidence, recognize uncertainty, and revise their thinking when the evidence doesn't match their expectations—exactly the habits of mind that scientists use.

The guide also introduces important scientific vocabulary including hypothesis, inference, scientific method, variable, engineering design, prototype, paleontology, meteorite, STEM/STEAM, and deep time.

What's Included

• 22-page middle & high school field guide
• Science Center history
• Gallery exploration guide
• Observation scavenger hunt
• Scientific experiment activity
• Live demonstration/show observation
• Science professional interview activity
• Engineering design challenge
• Deep-time investigation
• Science claim/media-literacy activity
• Exhibit design challenge
• Explorer vocabulary
• Check-your-understanding questions
• Answer key
• Certificate of Completion
• Additional free resources for continued exploration

Recommended for: Middle and high school students interested in science, technology, engineering, astronomy, dinosaurs, Earth science, agriculture, and hands-on learning.

Make your next visit to the Saint Louis Science Center more than a museum trip—make it a scientific investigation.

This is an independent educational field guide and is not affiliated with, authorized by, or endorsed by the Saint Louis Science Center.