The Discovery Center has recently expand to include an additional 16,000 square feet of exhibit space including a helium area, weather center and a extensive marine biology area. The Discovery Center is also looking to the future with new permanent exhibits including: Simple Machines (an interactive look at how simple machine help make work eaiser) and the Hall of Inventors which looks at a variety of men and women who have made significant scientific contributions.

In additon to the new exhibit space there is a 100-seat auditorium and 4,000 square foot party room, Celebration Station available for receptions, banquets and parties. The existing planterium and exhibit hall are still a focal point of the Discovery Center. With over 100 hands-on exhibits, a tiny town area for our smallest scientist and ever changing planterium shows, the Wilson Wing is fun for all ages.

The mission of the Don Harrington Discovery Center (DHDC) is "To build knowledge and understanding of science andits impact on our lives, our community, and our world. We are didicated to fostering curiosity, wonder, and the skills of minds and will that fuel the human imagination to probe mysteries byond the limits of the known." DHDC has been a provider of science and health educational programming and hands-on science experimentation since 1985. Because DHDC is the only science center serving a vast geographic area cover three states (Texas Panhandle, Oklahoma Panhandle, and Eastern New Mexico), we offer the unique ability to make a positive impact on a large constituency composed of persons from widely differnt ethnic and racial backgrounds. DHDC maintains six primany objective/goals each year.

1) Inspire elementary age children to appreciate the nature of science and our natural world through interactive hands-on science discovery.

2) Involve family members and the community in the development of both the learning process and the love of scientific experimenation for each child.

3) Provide all students, urban and rural, with opportunities for hands-on scientific experimentation.

4) Better prepare teachers through pre-service programs to present science education to children.

5) Help teachers become more familiar and comfortable with science education through shared experiences with educators, university instructors, andpracticing scientists.

6) Develop a cooperative leadership role for area universities, university graduate students, medical facilities, andscience industries with regargs to science education in our region.

Located in Amarillo's Harrington Regional Medical Center, DHDC collaborates closely with medical and scientific institutions such as athe Texas A&M University Agricultural Center. Within proximity to other inhabitants of the Medical Center Park, DHDC has access to specialized equipment for concentrated programs such as an electron microscope from the Texas Tech Medical School, habitat specific greenhouses at the Amarillo Botanical Gardens, and nature walks at Wildcat Bluff and Palo Duro Canyon State Park. IN addition, DHDc utilized the nature walk and lake system in the Medical Center Park for educational programs such as plant diversity, pond life, and seasonal change.

DHDC's facilities include a 40-foot planetarium which seats 84 persons; a publicly accessible solar telescope; 33,000 square feet for participatroy exhibits in the life and physical sciences. In June 2000, DHDC expanded its original structure by 32,000 square feet. The new wing houses traveling and permanent exhibits, a multi-media auditorium for 100 persons, and a complete workshop for building and repairing exhibits.