The Mines CDE & K12 Projects recently hosted a mini-field trip to middle-school teachers. The goal was to familiarize them with all the sites and sounds their students could see at Mines. This is just a quick recapitulation of what I saw and remember, it may be useful to other teachers interested in Mines field trips.
Field session for chemistry majors occurs during the summer before their senior year. The students spend the summer designing, running, and analyzing experiments typical for a chemical engineering in industry. Students can see a large ethyl-water distiller, gas separator, and exhaust scrubbers for removing toxins. There was a little talk about actually being able to visit the building while field sessions are in progress. The place is really hoppin' then and the students would be able to see the student teams (and all the equipment) humming along. There is little overlap between the end of many middle-school year and the beginning of field session, so visiting while the building is a hubbub of excitement may require careful planning. Contact Dr. Miller (rlmiller@mines.edu) for availability.
The chemistry department also has a Magic Show show available for tour groups. I saw this last year and it is chok full of content and enough cool experiments to keep students on the edge of their seats. There is a supply fee for this show ($45). Contact Dr. Cowley (scowley@mines.edu) for availability.
Students can see a 6 degrees-of-freedom robotic arm controlled by a computer, as well as quick tour of other robotics projects conducted by Dr. Steele and his research team. Contact Dr. Steele (jsteele@mines.edu).
This was not seen during the tour, but there may be the potential to see the SAE (Society of Automotive Engineers) Club Car. The SAE Club on campus actually has a small race car which they tinker and experiment with. If a group wants to see this, there needs to be some additional planning setup. I'm still working on contact in the SAE club.
Yes, we have one at Mines. See here for a better explanation than I could ever provide.
The Geology Museum includes a downstairs with many interactive displays. This can easily be the highlight of the tour for your group. Consult the website for more info and for arranging tours; it sounds like they are very used to tour groups of all ages and will know exactly what to do for your middle-schoolers.
Apparently, visiting students are mostly concerned with student life on campus. The Campus Ambassadors do a good job of fielding their questions and the following locales can be visited on a tour:
Here is a short list of other items that may be available for tour groups; if you develop a contact for one of these locations, please let me know so I can update this page.