The new Science Park at SciWorks is an open-air museum. When visitors enter the park, they are greeted with an interactive exhibit that features a 5,500 pound granite ball. The black and grey millennium ball looks like it’s floating. It’s sitting on a two-inch stream of water, and has been laser cut to be perfectly round.  

“It’s about surface tension - because the two inches of water is on a perfectly round piece, it elevates the ball and you can turn it with minimum force. Very elegant science,” said Beverly Sanford, President and CEO of SciWorks.

The two-acre site connects the main museum building with the Environmental Park at SciWorks. Several “big and bold” exhibits help reinforce motion, gravity and other physics concepts.

“I like the scale over there. We go very high and I really like going up high,” said kindergartener Jacob Vogt.

The scale, a large green teeter-totter, lets participants stand while they try to keep their balance.

Kids can also dig for fossils, play on the human pendulum tire swing, or send messages with giant whisper dishes. The bat hotel holds up to 3,000 bats and helps explain how these mammals fit into our ecosystem.

“Bats have that unique hearing ability of echolocation, so up on the sound pod, we have ‘bat ears’ that youngsters and adults can put their head between and get a sense of how tuned the bat hearing is. A lot of it is through the development of the ears and the way they are shaped and able to capture sound,” said Sanford.

The outdoor science park also includes a rain garden that features a variety of plants and trees indigenous to North Carolina. Visitors also get to see how wind is converted into energy.

 “We have over here our energy port, and on the roof we have a solar panel. And then to the back of you is our wind generator. Those meters are under the energy port so the visitor is able to see how much is generated,” said Sanford.

A popular exhibit is a colorful DNA sculpture.

“It’s to reinforce the whole biotechnology economy that Winston-Salem is trying to develop. The DNA sculpture or model that gets climbed on a lot shows the coils, the backbone and the various proteins that connect as the ladder for the DNA molecule,” said Sanford.

SciWorks officials are correlating their programs and exhibits with North Carolina Essential Standards of Learning.

Vickie Richardson, a kindergarten teacher at Cash Elementary in Kernersville, N.C. said the science park is helping educators like her reinforce what’s being taught in the classroom.  She says her students may not be ready for some of the concepts, but the exhibits still teach an important lesson.

“It still gets their interest, and that is the whole purpose of science - to get hands-on experiencing some things. And hopefully they will want to be scientists someday,” said Richardson.

The new Science Park opened May 2nd. A community fundraising campaign and a grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services helped pay for the $375,000 project.

Sanford said she hopes the outdoor museum will also encourage families and visitors to exercise. She said the park has something for all ages.

“It creates a comfortable platform for non-science people to communicate science with students, families and children. My goal, which can’t be measured, is as all of these people leave they are going to look at science in an entirely different way. They know there will be a scientific basis to it, which makes it less scary,” said Sanford.

SciWorks officials are planning a fundraising event for the new Science Park this fall.

SciWorks Science Center in Winston-Salem is welcoming a new, permanent exhibit that turns the outdoors into a hands-on learning laboratory.  

The new Science Park at SciWorks is an open-air museum. When visitors enter the park, they are greeted with an interactive exhibit that features a 5,500 pound granite ball. The black and grey millennium ball looks like it’s floating. It’s sitting on a two-inch stream of water, and has been laser cut to be perfectly round.  

“It’s about surface tension - because the two inches of water is on a perfectly round piece, it elevates the ball and you can turn it with minimum force. Very elegant science,” said Beverly Sanford, President and CEO of SciWorks.

The two-acre site connects the main museum building with the Environmental Park at SciWorks. Several “big and bold” exhibits help reinforce motion, gravity and other physics concepts.

“I like the scale over there. We go very high and I really like going up high,” said kindergartener Jacob Vogt.

The scale, a large green teeter-totter, lets participants stand while they try to keep their balance.

Kids can also dig for fossils, play on the human pendulum tire swing, or send messages with giant whisper dishes. The bat hotel holds up to 3,000 bats and helps explain how these mammals fit into our ecosystem.

“Bats have that unique hearing ability of echolocation, so up on the sound pod, we have ‘bat ears’ that youngsters and adults can put their head between and get a sense of how tuned the bat hearing is. A lot of it is through the development of the ears and the way they are shaped and able to capture sound,” said Sanford.

The outdoor science park also includes a rain garden that features a variety of plants and trees indigenous to North Carolina. Visitors also get to see how wind is converted into energy.

 “We have over here our energy port, and on the roof we have a solar panel. And then to the back of you is our wind generator. Those meters are under the energy port so the visitor is able to see how much is generated,” said Sanford.

A popular exhibit is a colorful DNA sculpture.

“It’s to reinforce the whole biotechnology economy that Winston-Salem is trying to develop. The DNA sculpture or model that gets climbed on a lot shows the coils, the backbone and the various proteins that connect as the ladder for the DNA molecule,” said Sanford.

SciWorks officials are correlating their programs and exhibits with North Carolina Essential Standards of Learning.

Vickie Richardson, a kindergarten teacher at Cash Elementary in Kernersville, N.C. said the science park is helping educators like her reinforce what’s being taught in the classroom.  She says her students may not be ready for some of the concepts, but the exhibits still teach an important lesson.

“It still gets their interest, and that is the whole purpose of science - to get hands-on experiencing some things. And hopefully they will want to be scientists someday,” said Richardson.

The new Science Park opened May 2nd. A community fundraising campaign and a grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services helped pay for the $375,000 project.

Sanford said she hopes the outdoor museum will also encourage families and visitors to exercise. She said the park has something for all ages.

“It creates a comfortable platform for non-science people to communicate science with students, families and children. My goal, which can’t be measured, is as all of these people leave they are going to look at science in an entirely different way. They know there will be a scientific basis to it, which makes it less scary,” said Sanford.