Operation Full STEAM is an exploratory outreach project of the Cade Museum designed to close achievement gaps for underserved elementary school students in Alachua County, Florida. It provides hands-on learning experiences in science, technology, engineering, art, and math (STEAM) for students as they move from second to fifth grade in three Title I schools. The museum is implementing the project in collaboration with the Alachua County School District and corporate and community partners. This phase of the project will see the students through 4th and 5th grade where standard 5th grade science testing in the schools will measure the impact of the program. In addition to improving academic performance, the project aims to cultivate greater interest in STEAM disciplines among students from culturally and socioeconomically diverse backgrounds, inspire the pursuit of further education, and contribute to a more inclusive and equitable innovation economy.
The Hollister Herbarium at Tennessee Tech University will implement “Rooting Students in their Botanical History” — an educational module targeted for 11th and 12th grade biology students. The module will address “plant blindness,” a phenomenon defined as the failure to notice or appreciate plants. The herbarium will collaborate with three Tennessee high school biology teachers, a videographer, and a graduate research assistant to increase knowledge, awareness, and appreciation of plants over the three-year project. Students also will get to know herbarium specimens as an essential resource for information about the natural world.
The Adler Planetarium will expand access to STEM programs for African American and Latinx Chicago teens through a progressive series of entry-point, introductory, intermediate, and advanced level programs. Students in grades 7–12 will be invited to join teams of scientists, engineers, and educators to undertake authentic scientific research and solve real engineering challenges. In collaboration with schools and community-based organizations, Adler will develop and implement new participant recruitment and retention strategies to reach teens in specific neighborhoods. The initiative will help address the underrepresentation of Latinx and African Americans in engineering.
The Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden will conduct the Million Orchid Project Authentic STEM Initiative to provide inclusive and accessible STEM learning opportunities for approximately 1,800 students annually from the most diverse and under-resourced middle and K-8 schools in Miami–Dade County. The initiative will use the Fairchild's STEMLab — a mobile plant propagation lab designed especially for schoolchildren — to bring the museum’s specialized scientific research to young learners in South Florida neighborhoods. Students and teachers will collect and analyze scientific data, devise research questions, and test hypotheses that will advance local conservation and contribute to the propagation of endangered orchids. Students will have the opportunity to explore STEM careers through interactions with Fairchild botanists.
The Jackson Hole Children’s Museum will expand its K–5th grade STEAM programs, which serve more than 1,300 students in Teton County School District #1. The STEAM programs provide inquiry-based, hands-on programming to all K–5 District students in accordance with the Wyoming State Science Standards. An additional 500 students are reached through homeschool groups, summer school, childcare and therapy organizations, and nearby Idaho schools. Each two-hour program opens with interactive, student-centered, scientific method lab stations. Students are then challenged to use newly acquired vocabulary and knowledge to complete a hands-on building project. The program is designed to contribute to increasing science and engineering literacy in the community and to support the development of students’ 21st century skills.
Gateway to Science will partner with the University of Mary Early Childhood Education Program to develop interpretive materials for a new Science First exhibition. Science First will serve young children up to age 5 and their parents, caregivers, and educators. It will increase adults’ knowledge and confidence to facilitate children’s science learning experiences in their daily lives. Adult visitors will gain an increased understanding of how children learn science. The program will equip them to engage young children in science inquiry and to build 21st century skills.
The Virginia Air and Space Center will enhance its Space Gallery exhibit and increase its capacity to deliver high-quality, high-impact STEM programming. The museum will purchase, adapt, and install three interactive, digital exhibits that will complement existing displays and enhance visitors’ overall experiences. The digital exhibits will include a moon lander that users can pilot; a simulated Mars rover and micro-copter that will allow guests to navigate a Martian atmosphere and surface; and a stellar playground where users can build their own solar system through an intuitive touch-interface that incorporates planets, stars, violent supernovas, black holes, and other space oddities. The project team will develop new curricula related to the exhibits to use with school groups and summer camps.
The Key West Tropical Forest and Botanical Garden will strengthen and expand its “Living Laboratory,” a hands-on outdoor youth environmental education program. New curricula will target students in preschool through 6th grade to expand the reach of the program. Additional programming will serve students in middle school and high school, including facilitating guided research projects for students in the district STEM Fair. Partnerships with local organizations will help to expand inclusive programming for at-risk and economically disadvantaged students and make the program free. They will use student-created videos of their experiments and activities to create multimedia online tutorial resources for educators.
The Discovery Museums will develop and implement a continuous improvement process to improve the impact of its STEM programming by strengthening staff skills in using evaluation data. The project will begin with a series of training sessions for learning programs staff based on feedback from youth regarding the quality of the museum's program delivery and an assessment of staff competencies in positive youth development. Participating staff will benefit from a deeper understanding of data and the ability to build ongoing evaluation and positive youth development practices into their program presentations in a way that supports Social-Emotional Learning outcomes. The project will potentially result in a process and set of tools to quantify the impact of STEM programming that can be shared with other informal learning organizations.
Chabot Space & Science Center will expand its work in youth development and community outreach by launching the Oakland Connected Learning Partnership program targeting underserved children and youth. Over the two-year project period, the museum will hire 12 teens each year from a Title I high school as paid interns. Museum educators will provide training and mentorship to prepare the interns to present STEM-based after-school programs for children aged 6-12 at local Girls & Boys Clubs. The teens will help to organize and present additional project activities, including Community Science Events at local libraries, public schools and places of worship. Each year of the project will culminate with a free Community Day at the museum for all participants. Community listening sessions at strategic intervals will help the project team understand resources and needs and obtain feedback on the program.
The Science Museum of Virginia will launch a three-year initiative that empowers participants to effect change in their neighborhoods using citizen science as a tool. The museum will lead a team of residents, business owners, government officials, nonprofits, and health system partners in assessing air quality concerns at the neighborhood level and implementing evidence-based solutions. The museum will also introduce a new platform and interactive software system to display air quality data from this project as well as other visualizations reflecting citizen science data captured in other initiatives. An external evaluator will conduct front-end and formative evaluation to address challenges as they occur and assist the museum in disseminating learnings from the project to the field. The project is designed to build community consensus on strategies necessary to build resilience to climate change while strengthening the museum’s position as a catalyst for science-based decision-making.
Science Mill will pilot an expansion of its STEM Equity Initiative for urban communities by introducing summer STEM career immersion camps for students in grades 3 to 8 in rural, underserved Texas communities. Developed by the museum's educators and taught by science teachers, the camps introduce students to real-world STEM careers and teach what it means to be a STEM professional. The project team will create new curriculum to support the week-long camps. Reaching up to 120 students, the camps feature team challenges, project-based designing and building, and daily hands-on content engagement through inquiry-based activities. Students will focus on different STEM fields each day with a goal to build their confidence and spark lifelong curiosity in STEM. During the school year, campers will participate in local STEM clubs, engaging in hands-on activities that continue to reinforce excitement in STEM learning.