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EXPLORIT at Mace Ranch: (below)
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EXPLORIT at 2801 2nd Street, Davis since 2006:
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(Left) "RICE: from the roots up - discover how geography, ecology, and agricultural processes are involved in the growth and cultivation of rice"
An eight week public program of hands-on activities ("explorits") investigating rice. In the activity shown here the visitor is invited to examine grains of different rice varieties and to identify each variety from its special characteristics.

This activity is one of several mathematics "explorits" which travel to schools for evening Science Nights for children, their parents, siblings, and teachers.

Here the challenge is to calculate the number of sand grains in a handful of sand. An approximate weight per grain of sand is provided for the calculation. Each visitor uses a his/her own handful of sand and weighs it on an accurate, digital scale.

This "explorit", typically inviting minimally directed involvement in an open-ended activity, allows visitors to make timed filtration and other measurements.