The DoSeum will re-imagine its exhibition, “Dream Tomorrow Today,” focusing on underserved students in San Antonio. The community-driven exhibition will provide a space for children ages 4 to 11 to develop key learning and STEM leadership skills to approach their desired futures. In developing the exhibit content, the museum will partner with academic futurists, local organizations with a focus on underserved students, STEM-focused organizations, and a community network of families connected to those organizations. Community conversations will be convened for children and families throughout the exhibition development process to elicit feedback from key stakeholders.
The Detroit Zoo will partner with community-based organizations serving youth in metropolitan Detroit to implement a program to develop and present remote STEM programming for students in this area, targeting low- to moderate-income students of color. Staff from the zoo and three afterschool programs (American Institutional Management Services, Arab Community Center for Economic and Social Services, and Boys and Girls Clubs of Southeast Michigan) will participate in professional development workshops on virtual, inquiry-based, humane STEM education. They will then utilize skills developed in the workshops to develop and lead virtual education programming for a total of 24 groups of 20 middle school youth.
The University of Montana will create “Transforming Spaces” to foster a more inclusive, culturally responsive space for Missoula’s urban Indian population and to better meet the community’s needs. The project will explore cross-cultural, collaborative approaches to STEM and Native Science. In collaboration with Montana’s tribal communities, the museum’s education team and advisory groups will design and implement hands-on activities that engage visitors with Native Science. The project will engage tribal role models and partner with tribal elders to create a library of videos for tribal partners, K–12 schools, and organizations. The project will offer teachers professional development designed to fulfill the statewide mandate of Indian Education for All. The exhibit will connect Native and non-Native museum visitors, close opportunity and achievement gaps, and ensure that all Missoula children feel a sense of belonging in museums, higher education, and STEM.
Explora Science Center and Children's Museum of Albuquerque will conduct “Roots: supporting Black scholars in STEAM,” a project to increase Explora’s relationships with and relevance to Albuquerque’s Black communities and increase opportunities for Black students in Albuquerque to pursue STEAM. The project is designed to foster a holistic, place-based approach to K–16 STEAM learning that incorporates a growth mindset and highlights the contributions of community members, particularly Black STEAM professionals. The museum will collaborate on project activities with the Mexico Black Leadership Council, the Greater Albuquerque Housing Partnership/Casa Feliz, the Community School at Emerson Elementary, and Sandia National Laboratories’ Black Leadership Committee.
The University of Montana spectrUM Discovery Area will implement “Making Across Montana” —a project to engage K–12 students and teachers in rural and tribal communities with making and tinkering. In collaboration with K–12 education partners in the rural Bitterroot Valley and on the Flathead Indian Reservation, the museum will develop a mobile making and tinkering exhibition and education program. The exhibition will be able to travel to K–12 schools statewide. The project team will develop a K–12 teacher professional development workshop, along with accompanying curriculum resources and supplies. The traveling program and related materials will build schools’ capacity to incorporate making and tinkering—and informal STEM experiences more broadly—into their teaching.
Imagination Station, Toledo’s Science Center, will implement Toledo Tinkers: Through a Child’s Eyes — a new initiative to address barriers to STEM education and promote a lifelong love of those subjects. An outreach curriculum and a mobile tinkering lab will help children ages 11–13 and their families establish personal connections with making and tinkering. Pilot programs will include the Maker Club — a 12-session out-of-school program for students from Boys and Girls Clubs of Toledo and other community-based organizations — as well as Tinkering Takeovers, which is a drop-in tinkering program for families at branch libraries. A community exhibition will showcase the diversity of the Toledo community and its rich history of making and tinkering, using the work of participating children.
Community Partnerships in STEM — a project of the Sciencenter and partners Downtown Ithaca Children’s Center and My Brother’s Keeper Ithaca — will expand opportunities for local youth from low-income households to engage with science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) through hands-on programming. Sciencenter and its partners will co-develop relevant, accessible, and inclusive programs for youth and deliver the programs at the museum and at partner locations. As a result of this project, local youth from low-income households will come to see science as a process for learning about the world through experimentation and exploration that is relevant to their everyday lives.
The Children’s Museum will collaborate with six Hartford Public Library branches, three Hartford Family Centers, and the Connecticut Children’s Medical Center to provide hands-on Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Mathematics (STEAM) - based programs to over 1,000 local 3 to 14-year old children and their care givers. Program design and development will include planning for field trips to the museum. All participants will be given age-specific, supplemental STEAM materials to continue their learning activities at home, and families can attend more than one week of library programs, or more than three Saturdays of family center programs. The goal will be to help urban Hartford youths find new pathways toward responsible citizenry and fiscal stability.
The Field Museum of Natural History will present “Changing Face of Science,” an exhibition series targeting pre-teens and teenagers and featuring Field Museum scientists and science educators who are women or people of color. Over three years, the museum will mount six exhibitions that highlight the experiences and work of museum scientists from diverse backgrounds in a range of disciplines. Programming will include on-site field trips and virtual events during which students and educators will interact with featured researchers. By presenting the stories of individuals from groups traditionally underrepresented in scientific fields, the museum will provide role models who will show that science is accessible and inspire a diverse group of future scientists.
The Institute for Native Pacific Education and Culture (INPEACE) will create a mobile science exhibit to support improved academic outcomes in science and math for students from pre-school to eighth grade. With the collaboration of science experts, teachers, students, and cultural practitioners, the project team will identify and design three core exhibits using a culture-based educational approach. The project will link indigenous knowledge and practices with scientific theory, providing hands-on experiences designed to engage youth in STEM learning. The 'Ike Hawai'i Science Center Exhibit will visit rural Native Hawaiian communities on O'ahu and at least one other island. It will be available to public audiences of all ages.
RK&A conducted prototype testing for the Game Changers exhibition with three audiences: adults, female youth 10-17 years old, and male youth 13-14 years old. The Game Changers exhibition is being developed by the Lemelson Center for the Study of Invention and Innovation at the National Museum of American History.