On December 4, 2019, 48 Aldine 9th Grade School students had an opportunity to visit the Houston Museum of Natural Science. The trip began with a scavenger hunt through 3 exhibit halls: African Wildlife, Texas Coastal Ecology, and Texas Wildlife. Students were keen to explore the exhibits while completing the hunt; learning new things about each area and species. On our route back to the Planetarium, students examined gems in the Hall of Gems and Minerals and had an opportunity to enter the vault to view jewelry made with different gems. The excitement did not stop there. It was show time! Everyone took their seats, leaned back and were able to enjoy the newly upgraded Planetarium, showing “Expedition Reef”. The show covered topics taught in class: DNA, the Genetic Code and the Carbon Cycle. It introduced new topics: Mutualism, Evolution, and Ecology that will be discussed in the future. This allowed students to link topics together. You can not leave the museum without visiting the Dinosaurs! The Hall of Paleontology was huge, the students were elated to wander through, to discover creatures that they never knew existed.
