Museum of Science: Welcome to Exploring Leonardo

When you hear Leonardo da Vinci mentioned, chances are that you think of the Mona Lisa, or flying machines—but what about plastic? Learners blend heavy cream and vinegar over heat to replicate da Vinci's early organic plastic recipe.

Lilly Martin Spencer's "Peeling Onions" is the subject of a series of exercises that model for learners how to use the elements of art to read a painting. A series of worksheets focus viewers' attention on how Spencer uses...

Jerome Myers' depiction of the urban landscape in "Sunday Morning" is the focus of a series of activities that asks viewers to examine how an artist uses the elements of a painting to tell a story. The resource packet includes an...

Explore the physics of tuning most musical instruments. The video instructor explains the pitches of string and wind instruments with an emphasis on the sound waves. After discussing the ratios between pitches, it compares harmonics and...

Archived exhibition about Leonardo lets visitors explore his many dimensions, as scientist, inventor, and artist.

Leonardo da Vinci, famous Renaissance painter and inventor, is the subject of a special collection of resources maintained by the National Museum of Science and Technology in Milan, Italy. Includes a gallery of his work, his biography,...

Welcome to the Character Modeling topic! In this topic, we'll explore how clay models are transformed into digital characters using weighted averages. It includes two lessons: Lesson 1: Modeling with subdivision surfaces (appropriate for...

This is an introduction to patterns. In this topic we're going to explore the geometry behind the creation of dinosaur skin. It includes two lessons: Lesson 1: Geometry of dinosaur scales (Grades 5+) and Lesson 2: Painting with Perlin...

"Can a museum be a catalyst in a community? Can a museum house artists and allow them to be change agents as communities re-think themselves?" Watch as curator Thelma Golden re-imagines the museum as a think tank and explores the...

This site explores linear perspective and how it was first used in the early 15th-Century. Discusses horizon line, vanishing point, and orthogonal lines. The site provides an example.