The University of Arkansas announced last week that it will open a new science museum in Fayetteville.
It’s called The University of Arkansas Discovery Zone, and it is set to open to the public Monday, August 31st, helping to fill the void created by the closing of the University of Arkansas Museum in 2003.
The new museum is located at 1564 Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd, in a building recently acquired by the University of Arkansas. Funding for the museum comes from the Arkansas Discover Network, established with a 5 year $7.3 million grant from the Donald W. Reynolds foundation in 2006. The museum will feature traveling exhibits from the Arkansas Discovery Network, beginning this week with an exhibit called Arkansas Rocks, Rivers and Roadcuts.
The new exhibit is open today, August 25th from 4:00pm-6:00pm to Arkansas Discovery Network KidsQuest members. It will also host an open house for teachers Thursday August 27th from 3:30pm to 6:00pm, and will be open to University of Arkansas Faculty and staff on Friday, August 28th from 10:00am-4:00pm.
Traveling with the exhibit is Magic Planet, a digital video globe featuring global patterns of weather, earthquake and volcanic zones and tectonic shifts. These global features relate to past, present and future features found in Arkansas.
Future exhibits in the new museum include Backyard Science, Newton’s Corner, Illusion Confusion, Astronomy – It’s a Blast, GPS Adventures Arkansas and Exploring the Frontier, with each exhibit lasting approximately six months.
The University of Arkansas Discovery Zone will be open to the public beginning Monday, Aug. 31. Admission will be free.
