There are trivia games, peepholes, video screens, and pull-down levers, but this traveling side show isn't part of a carnival or festival. The Time Machine Tour, which is being presented at middle schools across the country, is an educational exhibit sponsored by The History Channel. The huge purple tractor-trailer is scheduled to be set up Monday at River Dell Middle School in River Edge, the only stop in New Jersey on the tour of more than 100 schools in 12 months. Last week, it visited Irvington, N.Y., in Westchester County. The next stop is Cleveland.
Students get an opportunity to use imagination and hands-on experience.
The traveling museum's visit was arranged by the middle school's principal, Richard Lukesh , Ralph said. A walk inside the 48-foot trailer is like taking a trip back through many periods of human history. Students glimpse what life was like in ancient Egypt, including a display of the pharaoh Ramses II, who fathered more than 100 children. Visitors retrace the Underground Railroad. They look at the development of the elevator and other inventions that changed the world and the way people live.