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Duck U students spread wings on field trips 
ENERGY EXPEDITION: Above, Duck University students took a bus tour of the Alcoa plant in Rockdale. The field trip reinforced science facts included in the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills.
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On June 18, Duck University students in grades 3-8 took a tour of the Alcoa plant in Rockdale. Students weren’t able to tour the mines that day, but they saw a video of them and toured the plant itself. The video and tour guide focused on many of the skills that are tested on the TAKS test. The field trip helped to explain hard to understand concepts to the students. The students now know that coal is a natural resource, it is non-renewable, how it is created and how it is used. On June 25, Duck University students visited the Mayborn Museum on Baylor University Campus. The museum is a hands-on children’s science and history discovery center. The entire museum was created for kids to be able to experiment with different things to see how they work, which is the best way for students to understand and remember. Students toured a variety of rooms, each with its own topic and theme. The science room topics included sound waves, light optics, body systems, waste recycling, simple machines, weather systems, water cycles and a mini-zoo exhibit. Students also got to visit a special program being offered called “National Geographic: Maps.” In this area of the museum, students enjoyed pretending they were weather forecasters. Kids got to change the weather systems on a magnetic U.S. map. Then their friends video taped them as they delivered weather reports based on the map they created. This exhibit not only focused on map skills, but also on different countries and their cultures. One of the tour guides dressed a T.H. Johnson student up in East Asian clothes and shoes. There were a number of rooms whose topics were focused on American history. Students got to dress up like Native Americans and ground corn into cornmeal with rocks. In another room, they enjoyed figuring out how to use tools that pioneers used to cook and farm with. The Mayborn Museum is a great mini-vacation for families. It is appropriate for kids 3 years old to middle school and is very affordable.
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