An OMSI assembly is a great way to bring classrooms together for a learning adventure. OMSI can gear assemblies to fit your specific age group. Assemblies are 1-hour long and designed for audiences of up to 350 people.
$425 per program
$300 for second showing (same title within 30 minutes of first showing)
Travel fees may apply
Altered States
Snap! Crackle! BOOM! This favorite assembly explores how solids, liquids, and gases change from one state of matter to another. Can students predict how a super-cooled rubber ball will react? What will happen if a balloon filled with hydrogen is ignited? The chilling, flowing, and flaming phenomena in this show are guaranteed to be a hit! Topics: states of matter, physical & chemical changes, energy conversions. Grades K-8
Electrifying Science
It's amazing what common household electricity can do: levitate objects, set them ablaze, or make them glow from across the room. This is science so electrifying it makes your hair stand on end! Topics: static and current electricity, atoms and electrons, energy sources, high voltage, safety. Grades K-8
Golly-ology
Instructor Rhys Thomas of Jugglemania is a former Smithsonian artist-in-residence who takes juggling beyond physics to explore archaeology, chemistry, mathematics, and other sciences. What new juggling props have chemists created? Can mathematicians help discover new tricks? Watch and wonder as the show builds to a grand finale featuring Rhys juggling on a unicycle on a rope! Room requirements: 144 sq. ft. with a 10 ft. ceiling. Topics: inertia, gravity, balance, centripetal force, archaeology, chemistry, mathematics. Grades K-12
Mission: Space Secrets
Strap on your helmets, it's a crazy universe out there! Students will witness the vastness of space, see how astronauts use the "Vomit Comet" to train and take home a diffraction grating and activities to go with it. A multimedia event! Topics: space science, physics, properties of matter, astronomy. Grades 3-8
Motion Commotion
A fabulous foray filled with fascinating physics fun! Student volunteers participate in Sir Isaac Newton's 300-year-old experiments by using ordinary objects to demonstrate the physics at work around us each day. These exciting demonstrations make physics incredibly easy to understand. Topics: energy conversions, forces, inertia, laws of motion. Grades: K-6
React-O-Blast
Chemical reactions like you've never seen before. Students help OMSI staff conduct experiments that produce strange substances and color changes. This program vividly demonstrates the predictable, and sometimes unpredictable, reactions of matter, including some with explosive results! Topics: nature of chemical reactions, physical vs. chemical changes, safety. Grades K-8
Science Circus: The Physics of Fun
Juggling, acrobatics, and the irresistible force of levity demonstrate the significance and relevance of physics. Instructor Rhys Thomas of Jugglemania is a former Smithsonian artist-in-residence and popular OMSI presenter. Room requirements: 144 sq. ft. with a 10 ft. ceiling. Topics: centripetal force, gyroscopic stability, gravity, balance, inertia, mass, air resistance. Grades K-12
Wild Weather Show
Weather begins many conversations, and yet just how does it work? What causes exciting, and sometimes dangerous, weather conditions? How can we track them and protect ourselves? We'll explore and demonstrate the concepts and roots of weather, sparking plenty of conversation on a fascinating science topic. Topics: earth science, meteorology, weather forecasting. Grades K-5
Live animal assemblies are presented by Brad Tylman and associates of
Brad's World Reptiles. Each assembly is 1 hour long including hands-on time with the animals.
$425 per program
$300 for second showing
Travel fees may apply and are calculated from Corvallis, OR
Creature Features
Handle a variety of animals under the supervision of trained staff. What is the difference between a land turtle and a water turtle? A lizard and a snake? A venomous snake and a harmless one? Take a close look at the unique adaptations animals have developed to enable them to survive in widely different environments. Topics: adaptations, animal classifications, characteristics. Grades K-8
Rainforest Wonderland
Bring the wonders of the rainforest to your school with this interactive program that enables students to see and touch a variety of unique life forms. Learn what products come from the rainforests, why rainforests are considered the lifeblood of the planet, and the factors that threaten their survival. Prerequisite:
Creature Features. Topics: adaptations, biodiversity, conservation, ecology. Grades 3-12
Snakes Alive!
Explore the unique physical characteristics of snakes and learn to recognize venomous and nonvenomous varieties. In this popular, fast-paced program, students examine 15-20 different snakes, ranging in size from our smaller native species to a giant Burmese python. Audience participation and supervised handling of snakes encouraged! Topics: reptilian adaptations, predator/prey relationships, life cycles, albinism, phobias. Grades K-8
Set-Up
Most assembly programs require an hour of set-up time prior to showtime and a half hour of cleanup time after the show. Room requirements are a space large enough to accomodate your audience, plus a large floor space or stage for the demonstrations (if on an actual stage, it should be easily accesible by student volunteers called from the audience). Most assemblies require that the school provide two large tables (approximately 2.5'x6') and one small table or flat student desk to set up equipment on. One power outlet is required for all assemblies, but need not be directly adjacent to the stage area, as it will be used for a portable sound system with wireless microphone. Electrifying Science, Mission: Space Secrets, and Wild Weather Show require additional outlets, preferably near the stage area. Most assemblies require pre/post-show use of a water source. Your scheduled educator will inform you of their specific needs in the week prior to the program date.
