Onsite field trips reservations are now available for the 2024-2025 academic year.

LIGO in Livingston Louisiana offers field trips on a daily basis Tuesday - Friday.  LIGO's Science Education Center is a unique field trip opportunity that allows students to interact with scientists and engineers doing real science, and to experience hands on science through our interactive exhibit hall.

Vacuum packing

Time:  Field trips vary in length from 2 - 3 1/2 hours.  During the summer we only offer 2 hour field trips.

• 2 hour field trips consist of a tour and time visiting our exhibit hall which consists of 50 interactive science exhibits (a mini-science museum)!
• 3 - 3 1/2 hour field trips consist of the tour,  exhibit hall time, classroom activity  & time to eat lunch if across lunch time.  Choice of classroom activities are listed in the field trip form below.

Cost:  There is no cost (yes, the field trip experience is FREE)

Lunches:  Students/Schools & adults must bring their own lunches with them to LIGO as there are no facilities to buy lunches on-site!!!

Number of students:  We can currently accommodate up to 96 students on one day for a field trip with classroom activity, although many days are limited to 64 students (it is staff dependent).  You can request as many as three days.  If more capacity is needed we can get up to 120 students in a day if we break the day into morning and afternoon sessions (no classroom activity).

REQUIREMENTS:

• We have limited capacity and recommend 1 adult (teacher or chaperone) per 15-30 children.
• Masking may be required, but we provide masks.  Masks must be surgical style or better (cloth masks are not acceptable). 
• BUSES MUST REMAIN ON SITE DURING THE FIELD TRIP.  LIGO Livingston is in a remote location and is sensitive to vibrations. For the safety of the children and to ensure the proper functioning of LIGO's instruments, buses MUST remain on-site while the school children are at LIGO.
• Please fill out the field trip form below as early as possible.  LIGO's field trip spots fill up quickly.
• Priority Scheduling 
  • ​Teachers who attended this past summer's teacher workshops get priority scheduling if they submit their requests by October 1st.
  • If you did not attend a workshop this past summer, then you should still submit a request. However, if you are requesting a date after Oct. 23, 2024, we will not process your request until October. 
  • When scheduling field trips, we give priority in the following order:  recent teacher workshop attendees, past teacher workshop attendees, and then by the earliest requests. 

Students exploring an exhibit

For current availability check out this calendar.  Please note that the calendar is just a guide - as it does not reflect the most recently booked dates.

When filling out the field trip form below, use the comment box if you need to let us know something, or want to ask us something! 

***If you have trouble filling out this form below, try using the following browsers:  FireFox or Microsoft Edge.  (Some teachers using Chrome from their schools have had issues with this form working.)***