Field Trips & Groups
The Sciencenter is the perfect place for a group, camp, or school field trip!
Group Rates
The Sciencenter looks forward to welcoming your group and is pleased to offer discounted admission rates to groups of 10 or more with advanced reservations. For groups smaller than 10, regular admission rates apply. To receive the group rate discount, you must make a reservation at least ten days before your visit and pay in a single transaction. Kids under 2 are free.
For groups with 10 or more children, we grant 1 free adult chaperone for every 6 children, before charging for additional adults. Sciencenter and reciprocal museum memberships are not applicable for group visits.
Self-Guided Museum Visit
$13.00 per child (July 1 – August 31)
$10.50 per child (September 1 – June 30)
Explore the museum at your own pace and engage with interactive exhibits to learn about space, weather, engineering, animals, and more.
We recommend one chaperone for every group of six children. Each additional adult/chaperone is $13 (July 1 – August 31) / $10.50 (September 1 – June 30).
Chaperones paying separately will pay regular admission.
Museum Visit Plus Educational Program
Note: Educational Program add-ons are not available July 1 – August 31
$13.50 per child September 1 – June 30 (A minimum charge of $135 will apply for small groups)
Enhance your self-guided museum exploration with an interactive educational program designed for students in grades K-5.
We recommend one chaperone for every group of six children. Each additional adult/chaperone is $10.50. Chaperones paying separately will pay regular admission.
We offer a fun, memorable, and educational experience for kids, teachers, and chaperones alike.
You can make the most of your visit by choosing the package that works best for you: a basic self-guided museum experience – or enrich your visit by adding an interactive educational program.
Small groups may also want to consider a stroll on our Sagan Planet Walk.
Educational Programs
Enrich your group’s visit by combining your self-guided museum exploration with an interactive educational program!
STATES OF MATTER – Grades K-2
Want to get messy with science?
States of Matter is an NYS science standards-aligned, hands-on program for students in grades K-2. During the programmatic portion of the program, students will explore one of two unusual properties of matter: sublimation or non-Newtonian fluids.
When available, students will investigate sublimation with dry ice. Unlike water ice, which melts from solid to liquid, dry ice (frozen carbon dioxide) sublimates from a solid to a gas at room temperature. After an interactive presentation introducing dry ice and demonstrating some of the interesting things that we can do with it, students will investigate dry ice with a hands-on sublimation bubbles activity.
If dry ice is unavailable, students will instead engage in an interactive presentation about states of matter followed by a program session investigating oobleck, a mixture of cornstarch and water that acts as a non-Newtonian fluid.
Program Structure & Duration: Begins with an interactive show for the whole group, followed by hands-on exploration for sections of up to 26 students at a time. Allow at least 20 minutes/section.
NGSS Themes: Matter and its Interactions (K), Structures and Properties of Matter (2)
Connect to the Ocean – Grades K-5
Visit the Ocean… right here in the Finger Lakes
We’re all connected to the ocean! Our local waterways eventually flow into the Atlantic Ocean’s Gulf of Maine, home to horseshoe crabs, sea stars, hermit crabs, marine snails and more. Participants will wonder at the diversity of life in the ocean, consider the relationship between humans and this important natural resource, and meet various species in our live animal salt water Tidepool Touch Tank.
Program Structure & Duration: Begins with an interactive presentation, after which small groups (10 or fewer students with an adult chaperone) take turns visiting the Touch Tank in staggered intervals. Total trip length should allow for at least 10 minutes at the Touch Tank per small group. While not at the Touch Tank, small groups may freely explore other exhibits and galleries throughout the museum.
NGSS Themes: Interdependent Relationships in Ecosystems (K, 2, 3), Structure, Function, and Information Processing (1, 4), Matter and Energy in Organisms and Ecosystems (5)
Power the Future – Grades 2-5
How will we power our future? We all have a role to play.
Students identify benefits of renewable energy, then get to work to design, build, and test a model wind turbine. This sustainability focused program emphasizes collaboration, problem-solving, and the engineering design process.
Program Structure & Duration: Begins with an interactive presentation about our climate and energy future to the whole group, followed by a hands-on engineering workshop for sections of up to 24 students at a time. Allow at least 45 minutes/section.
NGSS Themes: Structures and Properties of Matter (2), Energy (4), Earth’s Systems (5)
Bus Unloading / Loading
- Take NYS Rte 13 to the light at 3rd Street and turn East, away from the Farmer’s Market.
- Go straight on 3rd Street, one full block and turn left onto Adams Street.
- Go two blocks, turn left on Alice Miller Way.
- Take another left onto Franklin Street.
- Pull up to the Franklin Street entrance on your right.
A staff member will greet you and direct you to parking.
