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Bieser Discovery Center

The natural world is full of wonder and delight. In the Bieser Discovery Center, foster an interest in all things natural. Here, your child will study reptiles, insects, and mammals and examine fossils, minerals, and more.

Whether your interests lie in examining rock specimens, studying shells from around the world, exploring other cultures, or analyzing animal skeletons, the Bieser Discovery Center opens up the world of natural history to scientists of all ages, all in a child-friendly environment! Books, maps, and other learning resources provide a strong foundation for you to discuss natural history with your child, and fascinating specimens and artifacts allow you to immediately put that newly-found knowledge into practice.

Collections of rocks, minerals, insects, and mammals

In the Bieser Discovery Center, explore all that the natural world has to offer— here, natural history is within your reach. You and your child will discover principles of Geology, Biology, and Anthropology, all in a family-friendly classroom setting. The Discovery Center is equipped with tables and counters at a child’s height, which invites children to read through fun and educational books, while exhibits and specimens requiring a higher display come equipped with stepstools to help little ones see for themselves what they’ve just discovered in the books.

In the Geology section, study an enormous amethyst specimen, examine natural opal preserved within petrified wood, or analyze crystals. Look at an enormous example of Ohio’s state fossil, the trilobite. Here, Geology becomes accessible—and fun!—to your child.

The Discovery Center also offers a vast collection of Biology items to investigate. Here, simply pulling open a drawer reveals the entire life cycle of a butterfly, told through amazing specimens of caterpillars, pupae, and fully-developed butterflies. Investigate countertops, too; on one, the growth and construction of a large hornet’s nest is chronicled!

Open another drawer, and you’ll be rewarded with a glimpse into diverse human cultures; you and your child will be able to analyze actual artifacts from South Pacific, Mexican, African, Chinese, and Japanese civilizations, including jewelry, tools, and textiles!