When life gives you sinkhole lemons, make educational lemonade.
When the National Corvette Museum suffered a partial building collapse due to a sinkhole under the facility, it was a small catastrophe. Multiple cars, some irreplaceable, were destroyed and crushed under thousands of pounds of rubble. Total damages were well above the seven-figure mark. Thankfully, Chevrolet took the entire ordeal in stride, and has since been using the incident to create multiple exhibits and educational experiences.
The first experience was dedicated to the cars damaged and restored in the incident. The next exhibit was for the sinkhole itself in the rebuilt Skydome, complete with a viewing window into the sinkhole. Now though, the National Corvette Museum is debuting a new earthquake exhibit catered to the youngest Corvette fans. Built into the museum’s KidZone, "When The Earth Shakes" is a science-heavy exhibit that explores the causes of earthquakes and their consequences on the world around us. It features eight different interactive exhibits ranging from Quake Karaoke, where kids jump on a platform to see how their force equates to measurements of historic seismograph readings, to a Shake Table where the children can design buildings and see if they would survive and earthquake. There is even a display that shows the planet’s tectonic plate movements from the time of the Pangea supercontinent and it continues plate movement for 200 million years into the future.
Our favorite display would have to be the Tsunami Tank. This 16-foot long simulated ocean tank shows what can happen when massive waves caused by underwater earthquakes hit land. It features a high-speed camera so you can watch the action back in slow motion.
We love seeing new and interesting ways to get kids involved in science education, and this limited-time exhibition is a great example. If you are interested in heading to Bowling Green for this event, it’s open from October 1st until December 31st. Tickets are $12 for adults, and $7 for kids aged 5-12. Anyone younger is admitted for free. If you want to be the coolest science teacher in the world and take your students to the National Corvette Museum, there are also group rates available.
