This summer marks a year since the new Ventspils science center VIZIUM opened its doors, providing Latvian students and families with an opportunity to explore the world of science and technology in an exciting and attractive way. The science center VIZIUM offers the opportunity to enter a virtual world, where you can experience thrilling experiences on a roller coaster ride, go on a virtual journey, and escape a virtual labyrinth!
The Science Center's exposition consists of seven galleries dedicated to different themes – Healthy Lifestyle Gallery, Little Researchers Gallery, Smart Technology Gallery, Physics and Mathematics Gallery, Geography and World Gallery, Human Self-Perception Gallery and Simulator Zone. Every visitor to VIZIUM will find an engaging activity and topic to explore and learn about. However, the greatest interest and curiosity are aroused by the exhibits that offer to enter the virtual world and gain a completely new experience of using technologies that have been foreign to many before. Virtual reality is a digitally created three-dimensional environment that transports a person to a false reality. It can simulate places in the real world or depict fictional environments, creating the feeling of being a part of it.
An absolute favorite among visitors – the virtual reality ride simulator – offers adrenaline and vivid emotions. With the help of virtual reality glasses and a moving platform, it is possible to enjoy the emotions of a roller coaster ride, experiencing free fall and sharp turns.
A real adventure is going on a virtual journey – with the help of virtual reality glasses and a special platform, you can get to a virtual labyrinth or an ancient building, where you have to complete tasks and escape from the labyrinth within 3-5 minutes. The exhibit has three platforms, thus providing an opportunity to go on a virtual adventure with friends! Right next to the simulator is a screen on which what visitors see in their glasses is displayed, giving others around them the opportunity to watch the game progress.
Creative minds will have the opportunity to express themselves and create art by drawing in virtual reality. By putting on virtual reality glasses, visitors will enter a completely different world – an empty virtual square, which serves as a clean canvas for creating works of art. With the help of controllers, you can let your imagination run wild and, with the help of different combinations of colors and virtual brushes, draw everything around you that your mind can think of.
Meanwhile, ardent hockey fans, with the help of virtual reality glasses, will have the opportunity to fulfill their dream and get on the same field with the Latvian hockey team. By putting on virtual reality glasses, visitors can enjoy a hockey game from the perspective of various game participants – goalkeeper, defenseman, forward or referee. On the screen located there, it is possible to see the same thing as in the virtual reality glasses, giving the opportunity to other visitors to feel what is happening on the hockey field.
The goal of the science center is to educate children and young people about STEM - science, technology, engineering and mathematics, so each exhibit is designed so that through active participation and involvement, there is an opportunity to learn and learn something new, for example, historical facts, how technology works, the laws of physics and the human body, various regularities that we encounter in our everyday lives, without even imagining that there is a scientific explanation for it.
Virtual reality exhibits are just a small part of the wide range of activities that the VIZIUM science center offers its visitors - in addition to exploring the exhibition hall, thematic creative workshops and educational science shows are also offered!
VIZIUM is a great way to spend free time for families and groups of friends. It should be noted that due to safety reasons, some exhibits, such as the virtual reality downhill simulator and drawing in virtual reality, can only be enjoyed by adults and children over the age of 10.
Tickets for the exhibition hall, creative workshops and science shows can be purchased on the website. www.vizium.lv and at the VIZIUM science center box office. More information is available by phone: 66776633, by email: info@vizium.lv, VIZIUM on social networks (@viziumventspils), as well as on the website www.vizium.lv.
The activity is implemented within the framework of the project “Establishment of an Innovation Center in Ventspils” of the activity “Innovation Centers” of the 2014-2021 program “Research and Education” of the European Economic Area Financial Instrument and the Norwegian Financial Instrument.
