Field Trips

LIGO Hanford Observatory regularly hosts field trips for school groups ranging from fourth grade upwards. Trips provide an opportunity for students to learn about LIGO's search for gravitational waves, to meet and interact with one or more of our scientists and engineers, and to personally explore light, gravity, waves and the galaxy through our hands-on exhibits and activities.

Field Trip Resources

• Descriptions of our hands-on activties and exhibits (PDF)

• The "LIGO Explorer" -- the exhibit guide that we give to students for the hands-on portion of a field trip (PDF), (MS Word) (Spanish PDF). The LIGO Explorer is customizable and a teachers guide is available.

• Washington Science GLE's on a visit to LIGO (PDF)

• A parent permission form that a school can use for a LIGO field trip (MS Word or WordPad)

• Interested in combining a trip to LIGO with another Tri-Cities visit? Contact our friends at the CREHST Museum in Richland.

Field Trip Q & A

What are the dates/times that LIGO could host a field trip?	LIGO is available on any weekday as long as our calendar is clear. Check the listing on our tours page to see what we've already scheduled.
What will be the cost to my school for a visit?	We offer field trips at no cost through our support from the National Science Foundation
How much notice must I give you?	Several weeks' notice is typical, but short notice is often possible. In the spring we host several trips a week, so earlier notice gives you better date selection.
How long does a typical visit last?	We recommend a minimum visit of 2 hours, and 4 - 4.5 hours is the most common visit length (which includes 30 minutes for brown-bag lunch here at the site)
What sorts of things will we do on the visit?	The standard field trip components are a welcome and introduction, some hands-on time with our exhibits, a discussion about LIGO from one of our scientists, lunch, and a walking tour of the site including a visit to the control room. We welcome suggestions for maximizing connections to your science teaching. Do you teach an earth science unit? Seismic behavior intimately relates to our interferometers. Chemistry? LIGO houses one of the world's largest ultra-high vacuum environments. Geometry? Our interferometers are, in one sense, huge surveying devices. The theory on which LIGO is based deals with the geometry of curved bodies (curved space in our case).
How can I connect a LIGO field trip to my classroom instruction?	LIGO activity cuts across many science, math and engineering disciplines. Our major themes are gravity, geometry, light, wave behavior/periodic motion, the nature and scale of the universe and the nature of scientific discovery. Our exhibits and activities provide opportunities to address a variety of Washington GLE's.
Won't your science go over the heads of my students?	We strive to design field trips that match the levels and backgrounds of our guests. Hands-on explorations with our exhibits and activities allow students to build a visual and tactile framework for interpreting the science of LIGO.
OK, you've talked me into it. How do I schedule a trip?	Call our outreach coordinator at 509-372-8300 ext 248 or send us an email. We would be pleased to host a visit from your class!

Last modified May 11, 2007
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LIGO is supported by the National Science Foundation. Any opinions, findings, conclusions or recommendations expressed here are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation