Discover Lehigh Valley: Enjoy interactive exhibits, learning experiences at Da Vinci Science Center | Feature-belt

Hannah O’Reilly with Discover Lehigh Valley takes a look at the Da Vinci Science Center.

“Best place to start is with our guest services desk, where they can get you set up of tickets,” said Andy Beilhart, STEAM Education Manager at the center.

“After they get you set up, the best place, and my favorite place to start the day is up with our four North American river otters,” Beilhart said. 

The four otters live in the Lehigh River watershed.

“This is not too shabby,” O’Reilly said. 

“We try to keep them as wild as possible,” Beilhart explained. 

The otters feel a little bit more at home because the environment looks like their home.

“They eat great. They’re in great shape,” O’Reilly said. 

“They sleep all day,” Beilhart responded. 

“They’re living the life in here,” O’Reilly said. 

One of the center’s rotating exhibits includes the Be a Vet exhibit.

“We love when families and kids especially can come and see like, hey, they might be interested in in doing this as a career,” Beilhart said. 

“It’s a great way for our friends to learn about our animals, how different things work,” Faith Sheppard, Operations Shift Lead, said. “They can look at some wonderful pictures, match up the x rays to our animal friends on the wall. And this is where they can use our real stethoscopes to hear their heartbeats and really get into being a vet.”

In the Lehigh Valley Health Network My Body Exhibit, families have the opportunity to come and explore what’s going on inside.

“We have something like our fingerprint exhibit where you can take a look at your fingerprints and how everyone’s different,” Beilhart said. “We have our virtual health simulator giving you information about things like mental health. Most popular exhibits are reaction test.”

“And we’re going to try that,” O’Reilly said. 

The Da Vinci Science Center’s building also has its own brain.

“This shows off emotions. So, the colors change, the music changes, our videos on the wall change to kind of give you a sense of what emotion you are feeling at the time,” Beilhart said. 

Pulley chairs teach visitors about mechanical advantage.

“So if you look up there’s pulleys and rope. And each one of our chairs has a different number of pulleys and a different length of rope telling us that it’s going to be either easier or more difficult, depending on what chair you’re sitting in,” Beilhart explained. 

“Oh, my gosh, this is no joke,” O’Reilly said.