Fun At The Museum Of Science And Industry
I'm a geek at heart. That's why, when blessed with a weekday away from the grind this past Monday, I convinced my boyfriend to accompany me to the Chicago Museum of Science and Industry.
I had seen a billboard at the bus stop while waiting to get to work for CSI: The Experience, and I was intrigued. One week later, boyfriend and I are on the south side, paying entry fees for the museum ($11) and the extra $9 for the CSI: Experience. I have to say, it was worth it. The exhibit, as you may have guessed, is heavily tied in with CSI, the show on CBS. Like the show, the exhibit is definitely geared towards older children and adults. When you pay your admission, you get an assigned time to enter the exhibit (every fifteen minutes). This is so the exhibit doesn't get too crowded, which you will appreciate as you make your way through it.
Once inside, you get a little crime scene worksheet on a mini-clipboard and then you watch a short introductory video featuring Gil Grissom from the Las Vegas cast. From the video, you proceed with your group to one of three crime scenes. The crime scenes are pretty realistic (blood, bodies, etc.). After taking notes on the scene, you go through a series of labs. Finally, report your findings at the end of the exhibit to catch the criminal. All of the interactive parts are computer based, and very cool. If science museums had been this awesome when I was 14, I may have become a forensic scientist after all.
The rest of the Museum of Science and Industry is pretty awesome. The building is a leftover from the World Columbian Exposition of 1893. If you've read Devil in the White City, this is the part of the city that the book revolves around. The building itself is huge, with exhibits ranging from genetics to space. There is also an IMAX theater, with tickets available upon admission for one of two different movies showing. A trip to Chicago would not be complete without making the trek to the south side to learn something here.
The Museum of Science and Industry is located at 57th Street and Lake Shore Drive. You can get there on the #10 Museum of Science and Industry bus, or the #55 Garfield bus from the Red or Green Line El. CSI: The Experience will be open to the public until September 2, 2007.
