Exhibit explores wonders of physics and engineering

MISSOULA – “Motion,” one of the University of Montana spectrUM Discovery Area’s popular traveling exhibitions, will visit Lakeside Thursday and Friday, Feb. 23-24.
            Featuring hands-on exhibits and activities exploring the wonders of physics and engineering, “Motion” will transform the Lakeside Elementary School gymnasium into an interactive science museum. Highlights of the exhibition include a gravity well, a spin station, and spectrUM’s ever-popular flight simulator. This tour stop is powered by the Somers Lakeside PTA.
            Lakeside students will experience guided field trips of “Motion” during the school day while the exhibition is in town. The community is also invited to attend a free Family Science Night from 5 to 7 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 23, at the Lakeside Elementary School gymnasium, where students can share “Motion” with family and friends.
            Inspiring a culture of learning and discovery for all, UM’s spectrUM Discovery Area serves more than 55,000 Montanans annually through in-museum and mobile programs. Since 2006, spectrUM has traveled exhibits and educators to 73 schools and four public libraries in 31 Montana counties and on all seven American Indian reservations in Montana. Thirty percent of people spectrUM serves are Native American, and more than 75 percent live in rural communities.
            SpectrUM’s sponsors include the National Science Foundation, the Montana NSF EPSCoR Program, the National Institutes of Health, the Institute of Museum and Library Services, NASA, the Jane S. Heman Foundation, the Martin Family Foundation, the Montana Space Grant Consortium, the Simons Foundation, the Bonneville Power Administration, GSK-Science in the Summer and the O.P. and W.E. Edwards Foundation. Its Science for All Scholarship Fund has given the gift of science to more than 12,000 Montana children.