Connect2Texas
Don Harrington Discovery Center
Explosions, melting metal and fire eating? It's all in a day's work at the Don Harrington Discovery Center! Serving our five-state region since 1976, DHDC is an interactive, hands-on science learning center which hosts over 80,000 participants through our Education Program each year.
Our distance learning sessions feature our Science Live! shows and Guest Lectures from our Executive Director and paleontologist Dr. Aaron D. Pan. Science Live! shows are hour-long edu-tainment events bursting with hair-raising demonstrations and explosive results, live-streamed into your classrooms and auditoriums in spectacular high definition. Funny, engaging and jam-packed with learning, Science Live! will leave your students cheering for more!
All of our education programs align with both the TEKS and NGSS, and a cross-curricular Correlation Chart is available to view with each and every program we offer.
If you would like to request a program on a specific day and time, email dleducator@dhdc.org or call (806)355-9547 x105.
Science Live Series
Chemical Reactions
Grades: 4-12
Cost: $165 (up to 500 students)
Length: 45-60 minutes
Explore the how, why and WOW! of chemical reactions in this amazing program! Audiences will discover how chemical reactions create giant pools of never-ending foam, molten metals and another explosive creations! Students will dive into chemistry like never before when they watch our chemical concoctions create some astonishing results!
Critters Live!
Grades: PreK-12
Cost: $165 (up to 500 students)
Length: 45-60 minutes
Meet the DHDC’s smallest residents in this interactive program. Students will have the opportunity to get up-close with the DHDC critters which include snakes; lizards; tarantulas; and small mammals, like a sugar glider or chinchilla! Concepts explored in Critters Live! include life cycles; habitats; differences within species; and learned vs. inherited traits.
KABOOM!
Grades: PreK-12
Cost: $165 (up to 500 students)
Length: 45-60 minutes
Oxygen, fuel and an ignition source. That’s all you need for this spine-tingling Science Live! From coffee creamer fireballs to barking dog rocket reactions, KABOOM! explores the science of combustion with demonstrations that will leave your students cheering for more.
Science Below Zero
Grades: PreK-12
Cost: $165 (up to 500 students)
Length: 45-60 minutes
Science Below Zero examines some of the chilliest science on the planet. Students will discover the physical changes which occur when solids, liquids and gases are exposed to the extreme cold of liquid nitrogen. Audiences will be amazed as we use liquid nitrogen to power the DHDC Music Machine for the grand finale!
Sciencepalooza
Grades: PreK-12
Cost: $165 (up to 500 students)
Length: 45-60 minutes
Sciencepalooza features the zaniest experiments in the Science Live! collection and explores a variety of science concepts. With a brand new series of demonstrations (eddy current guillotine, anyone?) exploring everything from optical illusions to materials science, every presentation provides an unparalleled science adventure!
St. Nick's Science Show
Grades: PreK-5
Cost: $75 (up to 500 students)
Length: 45-60 minutes
Ever wonder how Santa fits down the chimney? Or how his sleigh flies? Well, a little bit of Christmas Spirit, joyful cheer, and Santa's magic is all you need to be a part of this winter wonder Science Live show! Join us for St. Nick's Science Show as we use hands-on demonstrations and delve into how Santa and his elves make Christmas happen.
The Science of Magic
Grades: PreK-12
Cost: $165 (up to 500 students)
Length: 45-60 minutes
Magician’s secrets revealed! For years magicians have relied on scientific principles for their most amazing illusions. Students will witness tricks such as fire eating and the bed of nails and uncover the science behind the magic.
Unseen Forces: Physics at Work
Grades: PreK-12
Cost: $165 (up to 500 students)
Length: 45-60 minutes
Everything in our Universe moves and interacts, and forces play a major role in that movement. With giant cannons, a hovercraft and other crazy demonstrations, Unseen Forces investigates the relationship between force and motion and explains how these unseen forces are at work in our daily lives.
Weather Wonders
Grades: PreK-12
Cost: $165 (up to 500 students)
Length: 45-60 minutes
The atmospheric elements that combine to create weather work largely unseen. Weather Wonders uncovers these elements through dynamic demonstrations which examine the conditions necessary to create clouds, precipitation, lightning, thunder, tornadoes and other weather phenomena.
Lecture Series
Biomes & Biodiversity
Grades: 6-12, Biology, Undergraduate/Graduate
Cost: $65/$85
Length: 30 or 50 minutes
Our Earth showcases an amazing array of biomes and organisms that occupy them. Learn about these major environments including their climatic parameters, origins, physical geography and topography, soil compositions, the organisms (and their adaptations to such environments), and other characteristics. Students will also get a virtual tour of different ecosystems within each of these biomes from around the world and discover the amazing variety of life on Earth.
Careers in Science: Paleontology
Grades: K-5, 6-8, 9-12
Cost: $65/$85
Length: 30 or 50 minutes
Learn about the paleontology, the study of extinct life, and the scientists that practice it. Also, learn about the different career paths that paleontologists and field research scientists pursue and the requirements necessary to become a paleontologist.
Christmas Tree Science
Grades: Prek-5
Cost: $45/$65
Length: 30 or 50 minutes
Why are Christmas trees shaped the way they are? Why are Christmas trees mainly found in cold places? How is a pine tree different from a fir or spruce tree? Why do these trees have cones? Why do their needles smell nice? Learn the answers to these questions and so much more in Christmas Tree Science.
Christmas Trees: Conifer Biology and Ecology
Grades: 6-8, 9-12
Cost: $45/$65
Length: 30 or 50 minutes
Conifers are amazing trees that have been around for nearly 300 million years. Found in both the northern and southern hemisphere, these trees are survivors – growing in harsh conditions, competing with the dominant flowering plants, and adapted to fire prone environments. Learn about conifers, their biology, ecology, and biogeography in Christmas Trees: Conifer Biology and Ecology.
Dino Disaster! Where Did the Dinosaurs Go?
Grades: K-3
Cost: $65/$85
Length: 30 or 50 minutes
Sixty-six million years ago, one of the most important groups of animals on Earth went extinct or did they? Learn about the Cretaceous – Paleocene extinction event and what happened to the dinosaurs.
Fossil Finders
Grades: K-5
Cost: $65/$85
Length: 30 or 50 minutes
Learn about paleontology and the study of prehistoric life including: what a fossil is and how they are made, different types of fossils, what the Earth and life was like in the prehistoric past, and meet some interesting animals and plants that existed in the deep past. The lecture can be modified to talk about a particular prehistoric time period or in a more general format.
Grasslands of the World
Grades: 5-8, 9-12, Biology, Undergraduate/Graduate
Cost: $65/$85
Length: 30 or 50 minutes
Temperate Grasslands are one of the major biomes on Earth, covering vast areas on nearly every continent. Learn about this amazing biome including the physical and climate conditions necessary for its occurrence, unique characteristics of this biome, grassland animal and plant adaptations, and a virtual tour of different grasslands from around the world.
The views and opinions expressed are those of the contributing members of Connect2Texas and do not necessarily represent the views of the Education Service Center Region 11. While some content is deemed appropriate for various curriculum standards used by viewers nationwide, most content providers make an effort to tie their content to the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS).
Connect2Texas
Email: c2tx@esc11.net
Website: www.connect2texas.net
Location: Fort Worth, TX, United States
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