Fernbank Science Center Facts for Kids

Quick facts for kids
Fernbank Science Center

Fernbank Science Center in 2007
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Established	1967; 58 years ago (1967)
Location	156 Heaton Park Drive NE Atlanta United States
Type	Science museum
Owner	DeKalb County School District

The Fernbank Science Center is an exciting place in Atlanta, Georgia. It works as a museum, a classroom, and a beautiful woodland area. The DeKalb County School District owns and operates this center. It's a fantastic spot for students and the public to explore science.

Discovering Science at Fernbank
Jim Cherry Memorial Planetarium: A Starry Experience
Fernbank LINKS: The Robotics Team
Gallery
See also

Discovering Science at Fernbank

Dinosaur diorama exhibit is just one of the many educational exhibits on display.

The Fernbank Science Center first opened its doors in December 1967. It is an important part of the DeKalb County School District. The center offers many science programs for students from pre-kindergarten to 12th grade. Its planetarium and observatory also host public shows at certain times.

The main goal of the Science Center is to help people understand science and technology. It also shows how amazing and orderly the natural world is. Fernbank has many cool things to teach visitors. These include dinosaur skeletons, different rocks and minerals, and even a real Apollo spacecraft. This spacecraft was part of the unmanned Apollo 6 test flight. The center also has a huge planetarium with a 70-foot-wide projection dome.

Jim Cherry Memorial Planetarium: A Starry Experience

Jim Cherry Memorial Planetarium.

The Jim Cherry Memorial Planetarium is a special theater with 500 seats. It has a 70-foot dome and a Mark V Zeiss star projector. More than 100 special effects projectors make the shows even better. Built in the 1960s, this planetarium is the largest in Georgia. It is also one of the biggest in the United States. It was the first planetarium owned by a public school system in the U.S.

In 2012, the Fernbank Science Center received a grant from Lockheed Martin. This money helped upgrade the Jim Cherry Memorial Planetarium. The upgrade brought new technology for the 21st century. A big part of this upgrade was a new fulldome projection system. This system works with the planetarium's classic Zeiss star projector. It does not replace it.

Before 2012, staff used regular projectors for videos. These only showed images on a small part of the dome. Now, a digital system projects bright images onto a special mirror. This makes videos and pictures cover the entire dome. Before the upgrade, shows were like slide shows. Now, animated images can move all across the dome.

Fernbank LINKS: The Robotics Team

Fernbank LINKS stands for Linking Ideas and Networking Kids with Science. This robotics team started in 2002. Since then, the team has joined many robotics competitions. They have also won many awards. All team members go on to graduate high school and attend college.

In the fall, Fernbank LINKS competes in and hosts the Georgia BEST Robotics Competition. From 2004 to 2014, LINKS was one of Georgia's most successful BEST Teams. They often qualified for the South's BEST Regional Championship. In 2015, they chose to host the Georgia BEST hub instead of competing. Under their leadership, 12 BEST teams competed. Two of these teams qualified for the regional championship. In 2016, LINKS expanded the Georgia BEST hub to 24 teams. This allowed more teams to enjoy learning about STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math).

In the spring, Fernbank LINKS competes in the FIRST Robotics Competition. Like the BEST competition, teams must build a robot in six weeks. After building, teams get ready for competitions to reach the FIRST Championship. In 2016, Fernbank LINKS was the first team in Georgia to win a district qualifier. They also won the Engineering Inspiration Award at the Peachtree District State Championship. This qualified them for the FIRST Championship in St. Louis. They ranked 16th out of 75 teams there. They were eliminated in the quarterfinal round.

During the fall and winter, LINKS has been very involved with FIRST Lego League. Every fall, LINKS hosts six free training sessions for FLL teams in DeKalb County. They also host the DeKalb FLL Regional Tournament. Plus, they host the Atlanta Super Regional tournament.