Permanent Exhibits

The Science Museum of Virginia has hundreds of hands-on experiences to amaze and inspire you!  Along with fun ways to explore science, our exhibits provide many ways of meeting the Scientific Investigation, Reasoning and Logic strands in the Virginia Standards of Learning. Click on photos to enlarge.

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Science Unplugged Science Unplugged
Get ready to step back in time while testing basic science principles of engineering and physics. Designed and built at the Science Museum of Virginia. Explore:

Build It!. Build a bridge you can walk on. Can you design and build a structure that can withstand an earthquake? Stack blocks to make a gravity-defying cantilever.
Virginia Science SOLS: K.1, K.4, 1.1, 2.1, 2.6, 3.1, 3.2, 4.1, 4.6, 5.1, 5.2, 5.7, 6.1, 6.3, PS.1, PS.8, PS.10, ES.13, PH.4, PH.5, PH.9

Force and Motion. Experiment with tops, bubbles and bursts of air. Get a mechanical advantage using pulleys, gears and other labor saving devices.
Virginia Science SOLS: K.1, K.2, 1.1, 1.2, 2.1, 3.1, 3.2, 4.1–4.3, 5.1–5.3, 6.1, 6.2, 6.6, PS.1, PS.6, PS.8–PS.11, PH.1–PH.9, PH.11, PH.12
Bioscape Bioscape
Begin in the Very Small Gallery. Learn about cells and DNA. Find out about the Human Genome Project. Enter the Science Sleuth Theater to try crime solving.
Virginia Science SOLs: K.1, K.6, 1.1, 3.1, 3.3, 4.1, 5.5, 6.1, 6.8, LS.2, LS.3, LS.13, BIO.2, BIO.4, BIO.6

Enter My Size Gallery, which features multi-sensory explorations of human biology and health science. Activate a kinetic sculpture using your own pulse.
Virginia Science SOLs: K.1, K.2, K.6, 1.1, 1.5, 2.1, 3.1, 3.3, 4.1, 5.2, 5.5, 6.2, 6.8, 6.9, LS.2, LS.3, LS.4, BIO.2, BIO.3, BIO.4, BIO.5, BIO.6

In the Really Big Gallery, the spotlight is on environmental sciences.
Virginia Science SOLs: K.1, K.6, K.9, 1.5, 1.8, 2.5, 2.6, 2.7, 2.8, 3.1, 3.4, 3.5, 3.6, 3.9, 3.10, 3.11, 4.1, 4.5, 4.6, 4.8, 5.7, 6.2, 6.3, 6.8, 6.9, 6.11, LS.4, LS.6, LS.7, LS.8, LS.9, LS.10, LS.11, LS.12, LS.13, LS.14, BIO.2, BIO.3, BIO.5, BIO.6, BIO.7, BIO.8, BIO.9, ES.3, ES.1

New Energy Virginia Electriworks
Investigate and explore key concepts of electricity. Make electricity arc through the air, use your voice to make a laser beam dance and generate electricity. Discover the principles behind a simple working motor. Plus, peddle a stationary bicycle and see how much energy you can generate.
Virginia Science SOLs: K.3, 2.2, 3.11, 4.3, PS.6, PS.11, ES.7, PH.6, PH.12
Light Visions Light Visions: eye sight to star light
Picture Light. Experiment with lenses, mirrors, prisms and light.
Virginia Science SOLs: K.2, K.4, 3.11, 5.3, 6.1, 6.3, PS.2, PS.6, PH.9, PH.11

Seeing Things. Experience interactive illusions that play with your perceptions.
Virginia Science SOLs: K.7, 5.3, PS.9, PH.9, PH.11

Cosmic Visions. Understand the phases of the moon. When is the Big Dipper not the Big Dipper? Touch a rock from outer space as you explore your universe!
Virginia Science SOLs: K.1, K.7, K.9, 1.1, 1.2, 1.6, 2.1, 3.1, 3.8, 4.2, 4.7, 5.3, 6.1, 6.2, 6.8, PS.6, PS.9, PS.10, ES.3, ES.4, ES.14, PH.5, PH.11

Segway Newton in SpacE: bodies in motion
Explore Newton's laws, gravity, momentum, potential and kinetic energy Float on air. Test your astronaut skills as you control a gyro chair. Ride a Segway®. Watch a feather and a penny drop at the same speed.
Virginia Science SOLs: K.1, K.2, K.4, 4.1, 4.2, 4.7, 6.8, ES.4, PS.10, PH.3, PH.5, PH.6, PH.12
Space Gallery Space Gallery
Investigate the amazing properties of aluminum-lithium alloy while experimenting with its strength and stability. Assemble part of the International Space Station. Study Virginia's moon rock. Witness the effects of near-zero gravity. Simulate a satellite's orbit around the Earth and the moon in the unique Gravity Wells exhibit.
Virginia SOLs: Science - 1.1, 1.2, 2.1, 4.2, 4.7, 5.4, 6.8, PS.5, PS.10, ES.5, ES.14, PH.4, PH.5, PH.12; History - VS.1, CE.12
The Kugels The Kugels
Rotate the floating granite kugels (kugel is German for ball) and study features of the Earth and the moon.
Virginia Science SOLs: K.4, K.7, 1.2, 1.6, 3.8, 4.2, 4.7, 4.8, 6.8, PS.6, PS.10, ES.3, ES.4, PH.5, PH.6, PH.7

Bayscapes Garden bayscapes Garden
The Science Museum has joined forces with the Alliance for the Chesapeake Bay to create a BayScapes Garden on the museum's front lawn. BayScaping is an environmentally sound method of landscaping which benefits people, wildlife and Chesapeake Bay. Click here for online information. 

Additional BayScapes Garden partners include the Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries and ValleyCrest Landscape Maintenance. Philip Morris USA and the Chesapeake Bay Restoration Fund sponsored the project.

Aluminaut Reynolds AluminauT: exploring the ocean Deep
In 1964, Reynolds Metals Company, headquartered in Richmond, Virginia., launched an extraordinary creation - the Aluminaut, the world's first aluminum submarine. During its career, the Aluminaut set a world record for the deepest dive by a submarine. Hands-on exhibits investigate density, the effect of pressure changes in the ocean, corrosion and galvanic action.
Virginia Science SOLs: PS.2, PS.5, CH.5, PH.4
Virginia Tech Solar House Virginia Tech Solar House
Open for tours Tuesdays 11 a.m.–noon and Thursdays 1–2 p.m.
The award winning Virginia Tech Solar House was designed and built by engineering, architecture and urban studies students and faculty for the 2005 U.S. Department of Energy Solar Decathlon. To find out more about the Solar House, download an information sheet. For groups of 10 or more contact the Sales and Information Office.Virginia Science SOLs: 1.6, 1.8, 3.11, 4.7, 4.8, 5.3, 6.2, 6.3, 6.9, LS.12, PS.6, PS.9, ES.7, PH.4, PH.8, PH.10, PH.14
Electriworks New Energy Virginia
Find out how Solar panels, a wind turbine and geothermal energy combine to power the building's lighting and heating systems.
New Energy Virginia is made possible by a grant from the Virginia Department of Mines Minerals and Energy and the U.S. Department of Energy.
Virginia Science SOLs: K.7–K10, 1.2, 1.6, 1.7, 2.3, 2.5, 2.8, 3.8, 3.9, 4.3, 4.4, 4.6–4.8, 5.3, 5.4, 6.2, 6.3, 6.8, 6.9, LS.6, PS.6, PS.9, PS.11, ES.9, ES.13, PH.5, PH.8, PH.10

Foucault Pendulum Foucault pendulum
 Note: this exhibit may not be available on the day of your visit. Located in the rotunda the Foucault Pendulum is designed to show that the Earth rotates on its axis. Click here for more information.
History of Broad Street Station Discover VirginiA!
 Note: this exhibit may not be available on the day of your visit. Dig into Virginia's prehistoric past, changing shorelines, major river systems and geological resources.

A Pictorial History of Broad Street Station
 Note: this exhibit may not be available on the day of your visit. The story of our landmark building's illustrious past told through historic photographs.


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