Structured Learning

There’s a story told at the Exploratorium about a woman who was so delighted with the discoveries she made exploring our electricity exhibits that she went home and figured out how to fix a broken lamp. There were no exhibits about lamp repair, of course. Rather, her experience illustrates our philosophy that exploration leads to personal discoveries and what Exploratorium founder Frank Oppenheimer called “the pleasure of understanding.” Frank believed that when people enjoy understanding something, they want to understand many things—they become curious about the world.

These ideas guide the development of our educational programs as well as the development of our exhibits. The topic for a particular session might be plant reproduction or bicycle science or flying things, but the overarching goal is for participants to realize that the world is an understandable place and that learning to understand it is satisfying and a lot of fun.

We provide a growing variety of Lifelong Learning Programs, including family workshops, day camps for kids, excursions to investigate science concepts in real-world settings, and classes for homeschool families. In addition, we offer Educational Outreach Programs that serve inner-city families. We bring science and art activities to community centers through our Community Outreach Program, and we provide a technology program, XTech, for secondary school students from underserved San Francisco neighborhoods.