Museum & Science Center > Programs & Events
Science Alive!
When the kids are off from school, we put science — and fun — live on center stage with Electricity Theater, science demonstrations, live animal presentations, and more!
Science Alive is a lineup of exciting demonstrations, live science experiments, and engaging presentations by our amazing staff and volunteer educators! Explore the offerings below.
Science Encounters
Location: RMSC 1st Floor (outside entrance to Expedition Earth) at mobile Science Encounter Cart
Schedule: Tuesday–Friday: 2:15pm | Saturday & Sunday: 11:15am, 1:15pm, 3:15pm
Awaken your curiosity with our captivating Science Encounters during weekends and school breaks at the RMSC!
Stop by our Science Encounter station to learn about physics, chemistry, meteorology, and everything in between! Observe our staff and volunteers demonstrate fun and exciting science and make even the most complex topics engaging and accessible to children and adults of all ages. With a dozen experiments in our line up, there are plenty of opportunities to reward your curiosity!
These times are subject to change on weekdays. The Science Encounter station is located at the end of the Museum lobby near the main staircase. The station is staffed on weekends and school break days from 10–10:50am and 2–2:50pm.
Electricity Theater
Location: RMSC’s 3rd Floor
Schedule: Tuesday & Thursday: 4pm (or by request) | Saturday & Sunday: 11:30am, 12:30pm, 1:30pm, 2:30 pm, 3:30pm
Electricity Theater shows occur on weekends and daily during school breaks and summertime at: 11:30am, 12:30pm, 1:30pm, 2:30pm, and 3:30pm.
Featuring two six-foot Tesla coils, this musical electricity show is a must-see! One of only a handful of experiences like it across the United States, Electricity Theater amazes visitors as arcs of lightning illuminate the room to the sounds of their favorite tunes. Come see an Electricity Theater show to see the Coils in action and learn about their namesake, Nikola Tesla!*
Science On A Sphere
Location: RMSC’s 2nd Floor
Schedule: Saturdays & Sunday: noon, 2:00pm (schedule subject to change)
Satiate your curiosity for space, weather, climate, and nature with Science on a Sphere. Join our experienced “Edu-tainers” in the Science on a Sphere Data Theater on Saturdays, Sundays, and school breaks to experience the capabilities of this life-sized spherical projection system through presentation topics such as tsunamis, hurricanes, Earth’s magnetic field, the moon, and the sun.*
Outside of weekend and school break showtimes, Science on a Sphere runs on an automated loop.
3d Printing
Location: RMSC’s 3rd Floor
Schedule: Tuesday–Friday: 3:15pm Saturday & Sunday: 12:15pm and 2:15pm
Discover how 3-D printing works. Learn how 3D printing is used in the real world, in our homes, even in outer space! Visit us on the 3rd floor to learn about 3-D printing materials, explore objects printed at the RMSC, and watch an object being printed in real-time!
Inventor Center Challenges
Location: RMSC Inventor Center, Third Floor.
Challenges rotate every 4–5 months.
Schedule: Tuesday–Friday: noon–4pm | Saturday: 10:30am–4pm | Sunday: 10am–4pm
We proudly present a fascinating “maker space!” You can participate in engineering and design challenges as you tinker with raw materials to create working inventions that can be tested and shared.
Our Inventor Center encourages you to explore the thrilling process of invention. As the first phase of a developing exhibition focused on innovation, the Inventor Center includes a series of participatory stations: learn, build, test, and share. Learn about a problem, build a prototype, test your results, and share your ideas or inventions with others (not necessarily in that order). Hop into the process at any point and see what you can do!
Featured Programming
Location: Museum Exhibit Galleries; TBD as announced
Visit our current featured exhibition, Wonders of Water. Kids will enjoy activities like engineering in a water table, making their own PSA, and learning some of the science of Lake Ontario.
Check our home webpage and sign up for our email list (at the bottom of the page) for more information about special programming during school break weeks!
THANK YOU TO OUR SPONSORS!
- Corning Incorporated Foundation