Over the past dozen years, the National Informal STEM Education Network (NISE Network) has discovered the power of bringing small—and large—museums and science centers together to create a much bigger impact. Members of the NISE Network community collaborate to create free resources, implement them, and share their experiences and ideas with each other.
KID Museum is a creative learning space dedicated to empowering the next generation to invent the future with creativity and compassion. Being small means that KID Museum educators have the opportunity to prototype new programs in a quick time frame, and experiment with techniques in a way that might not always be possible in a larger institution.
The museum had come dangerously close to closing only a year prior and was on life support with financial backing from a local foundation. The core programming, finances, and staff were in disarray. Six years into this grand adventure, we are a completely different organization. MHCM has rebuilt its board and staff and has a solid organizational strategy.
Small science centers are fabulous, multifaceted magnificence. Small science centers can be cost-effective, super-responsive to communities, easily kept up-to-date, and best of all, ultra-accessible.
The Try It Truck looks like one of the ubiquitous food trucks in U.S. cities. But when the doors open and the small staff emerges, the magic happens. The Try It Truck is BADM’s most important touchpoint for sharing its creative, research-backed STEM learning experiences with children—particularly those in underserved communities.
Science centers in Africa demonstrate just how much can be accomplished with limited resources but an unlimited passion for science. Bantsi and Monjero gradually became aware that that their true callings, in addition to doing science, were to share their passion for science and inspire children to become more curious about the world around them.
The idea of setting up a museum in the greatest forest on Earth—the Amazon rainforest—brought along with it some questions: How could the visitors really engage in exploration, make the visit their own, and have a transformative experience they would take away with them? How do we serve so many on such a small budget?