Hawthorne High School physics classes, under the supervision of science teacher Michael Davidson, visited the Liberty Science Center in Jersey City on December 6, 2013, to explore the elements of STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics). The fieldtrip was fully funded by the museum and contained several different exhibits enjoyed by the students.

There was the display of a Hoberman sphere at the entry of the museum that expanded to a size that would likely hold the entire class. Unfortunately, students were told that they could not test this out for themselves. Davidson stated, “It was a great experience for me, getting to see science in action, and I hope that the students felt the same.”

Students also viewed an IMAX movie, named Titans of the Ice Age, which transported viewers to the beautiful and otherworldly frozen landscapes of North America, Europe and Asia, ten thousand years before modern civilization; the movie also taught viewers about saber-toothed cats and the iconic mammoths.

The students then stepped out on a narrow steel beam and walked the beam18 feet above the gallery floor as a part of skyscraper exhibit; this experience mimicked the techniques that ironworkers use every day. Students also used robots to perform virtual surgery and explored many of other parts in the museum, like different scientific galleries and a collection of tubes arranged and modeled after sound waves. Many of these things have been talked about in the physics classes and now the students got to see all of it in person.

The museum representatives talked to current juniors on the trip and offered them an opportunity to take college-level classes at Bergen Community College in fields of STEM.