The Discovery Museum has developed new programs focused on climate and data through outdoor play and hands-on science activities. By introducing real scientific tools like soil corers and microscopes, young visitors engage with their environment, practicing scientific observation and exploration in programs like "Soil Science" and "Outdoor Scientist."
As a children's museum, our audience skews very young so we thought carefully about how programming around climate and data would look for us. The things that started to rise to the top were outdoor play, practicing science skills, and direct access to real science tools.
We have recently piloted a new program and tweaked an existing program towards these goals. One was called Soil Science. We purchased a soil corer, a soil sifter, and two sets of scratch plates to add some real soil science tools to our collection. Visitors loved using these tools, asking questions, and making observations about something they may usually overlook: the dirt under our feet!
The second program we're calling Outdoor Scientist. In this one, we'll get out a variety of tools (thermometers, transect tape, microscopes, etc.) and let visitors play with them in our outdoor exhibit, Discovery Woods. Our goal is to create experiences for our visitors where they can just have a chance to play with real science tools and we're excited to try this one outside!