here are many different types of volcanoes. Shield volcanoes have a broad rounded shape and gentle splattery eruptions often described as fire fountains. Strato volcanoes are sharp and steep sided and have violent explosive eruptions. But what makes these two types of volcano look and erupt so differently? It is mainly controlled by how think (viscous) or runny the magma in the volcano is...

In this experiment you can use 3 different thickness (viscosity) liquids to see what differences runny or thick magma can cause in volcanoes.

Volcanic eruptions are driven by gas dissolved in molten rock (magma) underground trying to escape upwards. But what happens if the gas gets trapped and can't get out?

In this experiment you can trap more and more gas in a sealed container, in the same way gas can get trapped in a volcano, and see what happens...

Download the instructions and information sheet.

Volcanoes form when hot molten rock (magma) under the ground erupts at the surface, but what causes the molten rock to erupt? Eruptions are often driven by gases escaping…

In this experiment you can start a chemical reaction that creates a gas, and see how the gas escaping drives an eruption.

This experiment and video was devised by the Volcano Seismology group in the Earth Science Department, University of Cambridge.

Download the instructions and information sheet.

We offer facilitated workshops and self-led visits. There is no charge for our school sessions, but we welcome donations to support the Museum learning programme (recommended donation of £2 per child). Get in touch with the Museum Education Coordinator to discus your visit museumeducation@esc.cam.ac.uk

Take a peek behind the Sedgwick Museum's doors when it has closed for the evening. See strange goings on - captured on film for the first time ever. A ghostly Twilight treat!

Climate Change is big. Really big, and sometimes it can seem overwhelming to understand all the complex terms, let alone how we feel about it.

The Polar Museum is about to break it down for you and you’ll even get to sing too!

It might not look very exciting but flint gravel has a story to tell of a warm chalky sea that covered a lot of England about 90 million years ago. That’s when dinosaur were around although they were not living in this particular sea. Sometimes flint filles the holes made by borrowing animals and sometimes, if we’re lucky it enclosed the remains of sea creatures meaning it is great place to look for fossils.

About the Session 

This set of activities covers and expands on the Year 5 national curriculum unit "Earth and Space", using objects from the Whipple Museum to explore:

The solar system

Terrestrial, celestial and planetary globes

The earth's movement around the sun

Space science today 

Duration: Can be booked as: 

A 90-minute session in the museum - you can find an example timetable for a museum session here

It is really unusual for a palaeontologist (scientist who study fossils) to find a complete skeleton with all the bones in the right place. We are more likely to find only a few bones or a jumbled up skeleton.

Putting a skeleton back to together when you know what the animal looks like can be a challenge, but imagine how hard that becomes when there are no more of those creatures alive for you look at. It is a bit like trying to put a jigsaw puzzle together when you don’t have the photo on the box as a guide.

How does burning fossil fuels threaten Antarctic marine life?

This experiment demonstrates the link between increasing carbon dioxide levels and ocean acidification and freshening oceans. Freshwater and more acidic water in the oceans make life harder for Antarctica’s marine animals.

The experiment and video were made by Nick Barrett. Nick is a PhD student at the University of Cambridge Earth Science Department and The British Antarctic Survey investigating the resistance of Antarctic marine species to predicted freshening and lower salinity in the Southern Ocean.