DINOSAURS, ROCKS, MINERALS AND MORE: Hands-On Science at the Pacific Museum of Earth at UBC, Vancouver, Canada

Amethyst crystals and Lambeosurus skeleton, Pacific Museum of Earth, UBC, Vancouver, Canada.

How do dinosaur fossils, rocks and minerals, petrified wood, climate and weather help us learn about the history of the Earth? The place to go to find out is the Pacific Museum of Earth in the Earth and Oceanic Science building at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Canada.

This small museum is filled with kid-friendly (and adult-friendly too) interactive exhibits—from touchable dinosaur bones and giant crystals, a 3-D “map” you can manipulate to change its contours, a machine that spins a tiny tornado, to a green screen that allows you to be your own weather forecaster and more. In an adjacent building you can find more fossils and a history of human evolution.

Dromaeosaurus albertensus

I visited the Pacific Museum of Earth in July when I spent several days in Vancouver. I discovered it by accident on a  walk across the UBC campus. When I spotted the dinosaur skeletons displayed in the main lobby of the Earth Sciences building, I couldn't resist going inside to find out more. 

A touch screen provided an introduction and questions to ask: From there signs pointed me to the next building (EOS) and the Pacific Museum of Earth.

Petrified redwood, 40-50 million years old. Collected and donated by Dr. P. B. Read.

Throughout the museum signs invite visitors to touch or to explore.

Kids recreating the landscape in this 3-D map display.

I saw kids intrigued by an exhibit about mapping and how contour lines indicate elevation. A large tray (similar to a sandbox) filled with granules could be rearranged to make a 3-D landscape. As the elevations changed, colored lights projected from above change to correspond with the new contours.

Solar system display in the gem room.

Gems.

In another room a variety of gems are displayed in lighted boxes, almost as if in a jewelry shop. Below each window a pull-out drawer contains information about the gems. In the center of the room hangs a large orb representing the solar system. Using the screen below, you can change its appearance--making it into the planet of your choice.

The Lytton Jelly Roll.

An amazing example of how rocks can "fold" fills one wall.

Femur (leg bone) of a hypacrosaur.

The museum is clearly designed to appeal to school age kids, showing them how cool earth science can be. Who knows, perhaps some of them will grow up to be earth scientists themselves one day.

A green screen a computer camera has turned me into a weather reporter.