The Tech Museum of Innovation, San Jose, California

The Tech Museum, located in downtown San Jose in the middle of Silicon Valley, is one of the best museums I’ve been to. For years we had a membership and went monthly. There was so much to do that we never tired of visiting it.

The museum is on three floors. The middle floor has the admission area, café and souvenir shop as well as the entrance to the IMAX Theater. The exhibits are on the upper and lower floors. It can take you all day to do the exhibits on just one floor, so if you go you will want to return many times. Linking each floor are very long escalators which make the initial impression fun for children attending the museum. My children like to change floors frequently just to ride the escalators.

Downstairs there is an area for special exhibits that changes periodically, but mostly the exhibits are there long term. They have exhibits about the latest in technology and I saw Google Earth at the Tech Museum long before it was available on the Internet.

Before you go into the museum you receive a Tech Tag. This records your progress on many of the exhibits and with some of the exhibits you can see your progress on the Internet when you get home. You can, if you wish, take your Tech Tag back again on a later visit and add to your collection. We’ve never managed to collect everything on one visit, even on the times when that was our sole aim.

Throughout the museum there are many volunteer stations manned by enthusiastic volunteers just waiting to impart some of their knowledge.

These are some of the many exhibits that I have enjoyed with my children.

Design Your Own Roller Coaster

The children have fun designing their own roller coaster and then they are able to ride the roller coaster they have just designed by sitting in a seat and watching a big screen. Other passengers can join in the ride they have created, or you can ride one of the pre designed rides.

Genetics

There is a lot of information about genetics and genetic diseases. There are video stories of people living with genetic problems which I have found fascinating. When the children go to each part of the genetics area they can get their tech tag scanned and so “collect” the fact that they have been to each area. There are some good questions posed as to the ethics of some of the genetic research.

Make jellyfish bacteria

The children go through a process of making jellyfish bacteria by following on screen instructions. Then the Petri dish is left in an oven overnight. When they get home they can go on the Internet the next day and find their particular culture to see if it has grown, as well as viewing everyone else’s for that day.

Mr. Potato Head

Mr. Potato exhibit is an exercise in logic. He is in a little enclosed room and by making a series of if then commands you can make Mr. Potato Head relax, switch the light or the fan on or off, or do a number of other things.

Robot will write your name

There is a robot that will write your name, or any other phrase you wish, by placing little blocks in a line in front of you. We went on my daughter’s birthday once and the robot spelled “Happy Birthday” for her.

NetPlanet

When the Internet was fairly new NetPlanet introduced me to many concepts of the World Wide Web including one time a lady’s life was saved by a webcam across the Internet. There are many webcams throughout The Tech and there is an exhibit in NetPlanet that will make musical instruments sound when people go near the exhibits on camera. I wonder if the people know they are being watched. You can even arm wrestle with someone across the Internet.

Underwater exploration

There are huge tanks of water that look just like the bottom of the ocean. You can pretend you are an underwater explorer and control the camera and see what a real explorer would see.

Experience an Earthquake

You can experience an earthquake by standing on a platform that shakes exactly like a previous earthquake. Before the earthquake starts you can build a tower of bricks and see if it will stand.

These are just a few of the exhibits we have enjoyed over and over again. You really can’t see everything in one visit and the best way is to get a membership and go multiple times.

In the summer The Tech runs summer camps. My children have taken a number of these and each time I have been highly impressed. They have learned web design, Lego Robotics, computer game making and much more.