Just spent part of my morning touring the State Museum with my daughter's elementary school class as part of Earth-Science Day. We had fun.

It was the first time that I spent several hours really working my way through the museum. To start, museum employee Dave Hunt told the students to ask a lot of questions, but to keep "your voices low." It was a nice suggestion that probably achieved mixed results. He said upward of 2,000 students were expected to tour the place today. I saw buses from Livermore Falls, Winthrop, Augusta and other districts.

The lobby was filled with exhibits. My daughter and her friend enjoyed "sifting for gold" at a display run by the Maine Prospectors organization, which I didn't know existed. Guess what? Both girls found gold.

Poland Spring Water had a good exhibit that actually worked (with red dye and water) to show the effects of pollution and how easily surface pollution can contaminate lakes and streams.

Then we went on a "scavenger hunt" for facts throughout the museum, looking for names of sardine canners, numbers about Maine fruits and such. I'm a native of central Pennsylvania, and was surprised to read that American Indians from the Susquehanna Valley traveled to Maine 3,500 years ago and advanced some of the tool-making and stonework here at the time.

Roger Griswold, a meteorologist with WCSH Channel 6 in Portland, also provided a highlight. He showed students a dramatic and informative video about lightning. I asked how he was enjoying the hectic day and he explained that, when he was a high school student, he went on a field trip and a meteorologist so impressed him, that he went into the profession. That's why he does these events. Cool explanation.