Torque, twist and turn in Great Lakes Science Center’s newest exhibition – 2theXtreme: MathAlive! This highly entertaining and interactive traveling exhibit allows visitors to experience math through video games, sports, design, music, space and robotics while answering the age-old student question: “when will I ever use all this math?” 2theXtreme: Math Alive! It opened Saturday, October 3. Admission to the new exhibit is free with general admission.
The 2theXtreme: Math Alive! highlights include a downhill race in which visitors literally ride snowboards and a photo stage on which visitors can capture their own image in a 360-degree freeze action photo, in the style made famous in contemporary action movies.
“2theXtreme: MathAlive! is designed to be another way we can get tomorrow’s engineers and technologists excited by and interested in math today,” said Kirsten Ellenbogen, president and CEO, Great Lakes Science Center. “We hope this experience at the Science Center will help kids better understand the need for math, and motivate them to consider future careers in the fields of science, technology, engineering and math (STEM).”
The exhibit is comprised of six main-themed galleries. In each gallery, a range of high-tech, mechanical and multi-media interactive experiences provide challenges that use various types of mathematics as tools to help the visitor compete, design, build, optimize or just play, depending on the activity.
The exhibits are organized into galleries exploring diverse themes:
Outdoor Action … Adventure Sports
Build Your World … Environment
Future Style … Style and Design
Kickin’ It … Entertainment
Game Plan …Video Games and Other Games
Robotics and Space
Visitors can design and play their own video games, take the controls to master-engineer various aspects of a modern city, edit their own animated movies, compete against others in a mountain bike race, jump into a ‘binary dance party,’ or program and control Curiosity, NASA’s next Mars rover. Through approximately 40 unique, interactive experiences, the exhibit takes math from its native form into the applied worlds of design, engineering, technology and science.
2theXtreme: MathAlive! is designed to appeal to visitors of all ages and levels of math ability, but with particular relevance to kids grades 3-8. The exhibit was organized in direct response to the larger need to improve math proficiency among students, and inspire kids to explore and pursue STEM careers.
Great Lakes Science Centeris part of a 15-city tour of science centers and museums, with a schedule of international venues to follow the U.S. tour.
Institutional collaborators for the exhibition include NASA, the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics, National Society of Professional Engineers, MATHCOUNTS and the Society of Women Engineers. The exhibition is featured as one of the major initiatives under MathMovesU, a national program developed by Raytheon to inspire kids to embrace mathematics as a key to their future. The exhibition is produced by Evergreen Exhibitions.
Visit here to learn more about the exhibit and the Great Lakes Science Center.
