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| Discovery Science Center |
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| Located between the foothills of the Rocky Mountains and the expanses
of the plains, Discovery Science Center serves a large region of Colorado
known as the Northern Front Range. With the support of local technological
industries and major universities (Colorado State University and the
University of Northern Colorado), Discovery Science Center began in
1989 as a grassroots effort to support learning science by doing.
The Center began as a "museum without walls," providing hands-on experiences
for the public at a local mall. Discovery Science Center has become
a permanent and vital regional resource housed in its own building
with more than 120 interactive educational exhibits. The Center, now
serving over 46,000 visitors each year, including 6,000 children and
their families in outreach programs, operates under the following
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Discovery Science Center envisions a culture that
sparks people's natural curiosity
and nurtures the ageless desire for learning through exploration.
Discovery Science Center believes that: inquisitive minds contribute
to society;
knowledge gained through experience is lasting; Science is a tool
for knowing the world.
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| One of Discovery Science Center's most unique resources in fulfilling
this vision is its portable Starlab Planetarium. Starlab enables people
of all ages to experience the night sky, no matter what the weather
or time of day. Constellations, moon phases, planets, seasons, and
deep sky objects are all observable in the planetarium. The inflatable
planetarium is an exciting tool for teaching and learning astronomy
and space science and is used by over 15,000 visitors each year at
both the Center site and in outreach presentations. This dynamic and
versatile tool can be a "stand-alone" program experience or used in
conjunction with longer-term investigations, combining work out of
the Starlab with time in the planetarium. |
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