The American Museum of Science and Energy (AMSE) in Oak Ridge is a field trip where science, history, and excitement come together. The museum uses Oak Ridge’s unique scientific history to help students understand the importance of science and engineering in everyday life. At the same time, its exhibits and educational programs give students plenty of chances to experiment. From electricity and magnetism to space, weather, and nuclear science, AMSE offers experiences that can make big STEM concepts feel much more approachable.
Field Trip Experiences
Students can choose from a wide range of hands-on educational sessions, making it easy for teachers to find something that fits their grade level and curriculum. They can build multi-cell batteries, investigate why objects float or sink, experiment with the states of matter, explore sound and magnetism, or build and test air-powered rockets. One particularly memorable option is “Living in Space,” where students explore what happens to the human body in microgravity while learning about everyday astronaut challenges, including how astronauts use the bathroom in space.
For educators, AMSE’s programs are flexible. They can take place at the museum, at the Atomic History Campus at K-25, at the Discovery STEM Works/ORAU Building, or even at schools throughout the region. Programs are available for different ages and align with science and engineering standards. AMSE also offers nuclear education programs that introduce elementary students to atomic structure, give middle schoolers a hands-on look at radiation and chemical reactions, and take high school students deeper into isotopes, radioactive decay, half-life, fission, and fusion.
Hands-On Activities
Teachers can build plenty of lessons around an AMSE visit. Before the trip, students could predict how electricity, magnets, or buoyancy work and then test those ideas during their activities. A class studying space could research what daily life is like for astronauts, while students learning about engineering could work through a design challenge of their own. AMSE’s “Engineering Teamwork” program even places students in an Apollo 13-inspired problem-solving scenario, challenging teams to design a solution under pressure while practicing communication and collaboration. For classrooms that cannot visit in person, AMSE also offers live virtual programs with an educator, hands-on activities, and work-along experiments.
AMSE is especially appealing because students do not have to choose between learning about science and learning about history. Oak Ridge played an important role in the development of atomic science, and the museum uses that history as a starting point for exploring how scientific discoveries have shaped the world and continue to influence the future. With hands-on experiments, STEM challenges, nuclear science programs, and opportunities to learn from real-world scientific history, AMSE gives students plenty of reasons to be curious.
