Why no world class Science museum for in town Atlanta. (Cartersville: credit, middle school)

[UrbanQuest]

With the great attractions around Centennial park, I wondered why Atlanta doesn’t have a major in town science museum. Fernbank is great, but doesn’t fit the mold I’m getting at. I think there used to be something called Scitech that closed, but don’t know much about it.

With museums in northern midtown, a nice science museum on Piedmont park but walkable to other things in midtown would be great.

[cwkimbro]

I think you're thinking of SciTrek. It was a Children's Science Museum. It was big in the '90s and was located next to the Civic Center. https://www.google.com/maps/@33.7661...7i16384!8i8192

The thing I remember about SciTrek is that is was extremely hands on and there weren't many passive exhibits. It was a small radio station, things you could interact with water involving water pressure and energy, things with air pressure, things using different types of mechanical energy, or heat energy, etc... There were many things to play with.


Basically, Georgia axed it to budget but backs in the early 2000s. It probably wasn't that much, but as a kid I thought I was great.

There are a few other options in the region that can fill niches of what Scitrek use to be, but there are more passive exhibits to look at and read about and aren't solely for kids.

-In Cartersville there is a private museum called Tellus Science Museum. It has alot of dinosaur things, history of cars, history of flight, but it has smaller exhibits that are interactive. It is more passive than what Scitrek was.

-There is the Fernbank Science Center. It has a space exhibit and a planetarium.

-The Fernbank Natural History Museum has some interactive exhibits that border on being being science.

-The Childrens Museum is next to the coke museum. It is really for the very little kids. It isn't mainly science, but there is alot there about different types jobs and things that deal with science, mechanical motion, cooking, farming, etc... It is more like SciTrek was, but for smaller kids.

-The Gwinnett Environmental & Heritage Center is more about the who or what use to live on the land in the past and how we use the land. There are some climate science exhibits for kids, especially about water use and where water comes from and where it goes when we use it.

[AcidSnake]

Georgia and Metro Atlanta's public and private leadership still havent gotten their acts together yet regarding STEM encouragement for K-12 students.

At the very least, Georgia Tech should be at the forefront for pushing science events and competitions for students in the Metro Atlanta Area.

There is no excuse why there shouldnt be the next Bill Gates or Steve Jobs coming up in Georgia.

[Citykid3785]

I too was underwhelmed by the fernbank. And Tellus is amazing for cartersville, yet still inadequate for a metro of atlanta's size

[K1404]

Atlanta has a "trap museum" instead, which about sums up where we're at as a city in 2021.

[UrbanQuest]

Thanks for the replies. To bad the city/region can’t do something about this omission. Good point about Georgia Tech being right in town and not throwing its weight for a great science museum.

Even Miami found very willing benefactors to put together a great museum, right downtown.

[rickms55]

What is Fernbank lacking that you are looking for?

[JMatl]

Fernbank is a Museum of Natural History, it’s not a Science Museum. And I agree that we should have a large Museum of Science and Industry, with a very large section focused on Transportation.

[cwkimbro]

Originally Posted by rickms55

What is Fernbank lacking that you are looking for?

I think calling it world class is a bit overboard.

SciTrek wasn't a traditional museum where you go and browse and read exhibits.

It was almost entirely for elementary and middle school age students and everything was highly interactive.

It was designed to make kids be fascinated with mechanical energy and how things are engineered, sound waves and how sound can travel in tubes or what happens if it hits a curved ceiling, or energy from water in a stream and kids can try to alter the flow, or how water evaporates. There were exhibits on how magnets work and what we can do with them.

There was a learning radio station exhibit, where you could see how some of the technical equipment works to make a radio broadcast using an amateur radio.

The key thing was interactive and themed science an technology for kids. They were very common in the '90s and built in a number of cities. I went to a similar one in New Orleans once. It was supported by the Georgia Dept. of Education, especially for field trips and interactive learning and wasn't a museums for the masses as much.


Fernbank is more of a real traditional natural history museum. The Science center is great, but it is focused on the planetarium and space (and is a real world-class asset not to be discredited)

Fernbank, in many respects, is actually a better quality museum. The aquarium is better quality too. It just wasn't the same theme and goals as SciTrek, which was boosting general science and technology education platforms for kids.


In reference to the OP's follow-up and comparison to the Miami Science Museum, Atlanta isn't missing much at all and in most ways we actually have more. Something is being gravely missed, if that is the comparison. A large part Miami's science museum is an aquarium, an exhibit on space, dinosaurs, and a planetarium The Miami Science Museum isn't like SciTrek. The two were very different.

Atlanta does have corporate partners that led us to have full museums for just parts of what the Miami Science Museum is.

Miami science museum has an aquarium, Atlanta has a dedicated aquarium that is the largest in North America and 3rd largest in the world.

Miami Science Museum has an planetarium, Atlanta has one at the Fernbank Science Center and the Tellus Musuem. Atlanta's planetariums are full size domes with 360 star projector, Miami is more like an IMAX screen. Fernbank has an on-site observatory.

Miami Science Museum has a dinosaur exhibit, Atlanta has the Fernbank Museum of Natural History, as well exhibits at Tellus and the Gwinnett Environmental & Heritage Center.


There is a space flight exhibit in Miami. There are space and flight exhibits at Tellus, Fernbank Science Center, and we have Delta's aviation museum.



I thought we were just talking about a children's science museum.

[Citykid3785]

I think generally speaking, colder cities where you need more to do indoors tend to have better science museums. Obviously not always, perhaps a general rule of thumb. In this sense, I almost wouldn't expect Atlanta to be leading the way like a Boston or Twin Cities would.