How to Immerse Your Students in STEM Education: Take a Field Trip to a Museum!

A common theme we promote at Whymaker is real life experiences that boost student engagement. Visiting museums with your students is one way that you can immerse them in a STEM experience that they cannot get inside the four walls of the classroom. Even if you’re a STEM, Science or Technology teacher, and have the devices, equipment and gadgets needed for project based learning, there’s nothing like experiential curriculum taught in an immersive setting. Traditionally, museums are thought of as places to see great artwork and historical artifacts that you cannot touch. Or you’re being shuttled around by a tour guide who has memorized a script. Museums are so much more, especially for students who might not have been exposed! But today, most museums have Museum Educators or Interpreters, who lead curriculum based experiences. Did you know , you can even find your state’s standards connecting the educational programs directly to your curriculum? And better yet, museum programs can lead your students to making connections to content they have been learning or discovering new connections to the community and innovative ways to learn, explore and grow.

There are all kinds of museums that are made for STEM Education enthusiasts. The most obvious ones are exploriums. An explorium is a type of museum that encourages visitors to explore exhibits in a hands-on approach. The sensory overload can be a bit overwhelming at times, but allowing children to step into a magical, technicolor world that was created just for them to explore, touch, engage and create? Is the best introduction to STEM. The Exploratorium in San Francisco is a great example of this. Their galleries cater specifically to every subject of STEM from their Tactile Dome, to their Tinkering gallery and their outdoor conservatory. Touching is encouraged! Another excellent example is the Explorium of Lexington in Lexington, Kentucky. This particular museum’s focus is to learn through playing. Like many museums, they also offer to bring their educational programs to your classroom. Hands-on learning and fun is everywhere across the country.

Science Museums are an obvious STEM friendly experience. Their Education Departments do a great job with connecting core curriculum standards to the exhibits and activities. Great examples are the Museum of Science in Boston, and The COSI Center of Science and Industry in Columbus, Ohio. The latter is always looking for ways to make real life connections and highlighting the contributions to science such as their program for early learners called, ’Farm Days:Little Seeds, Big Tractors’. It takes real life, relatable experiences and makes them educational. The National Air and Space Museum in Washington D.C. which is part of the Smithsonian Institute is another great example. Science museums' focuses are more specific, but there’s nothing better than being able to teach your students about physics and engineering design than going to see the Wright Brothers first plane or the Apollo 11 in person to understand the challenges as well as the size and scope. It’s a lot easier to imagine three astronauts in that small capsule, when you can actually see just how small it really is. Another great example is the Museum of Discovery in Little Rock, Arkansas. One of their mantras is to get people excited about learning. They do so by hosting programs such as ‘Tinkering After Dark’ and ‘Tinkerfest’ every year. Those types of STEM programs speak for themselves by encouraging teamwork and collaboration in a creative environment while increasing self-esteem and getting kids to think outside the box.

Museums also fit right into WhyMaker’s teachings of Universal Design for Learning (UDL). UDL is all about learning and work environments, and what better place to foster UDL than non-traditional STEM education museums! These tend to be historical locations that were turned into museums or exhibits, such old factories, decommissioned submarines or one of the most popular and diverse examples, the Intrepid Sea, Air and Space Museum, in New York City. There’s nothing like walking onto an actual WWII and Vietnam era aircraft carrier that was commissioned by NASA to help recover astronauts when they splashed down from their mission in the 1960’s. The ship itself is an artifact and the epitome of the immersive experience. Like many history museums, the education departments will connect their experiences to your curriculum but some, like the Intrepid, will go the extra step to use their unique exhibits to teach untraditional topics. Among those are nautical sciences, aerospace technology or simply how airplanes fly. Not subjects that are typically taught in classrooms. Hands-on workshops connecting all four areas of STEM are usually part of the visit. Another example would be Mystic Seaport Maritime Museum in Mystic, Connecticut. The costumed interpreters will lead a group through the well preserved fishing village and onto a historic vessel to learn about boat building and design as well as how they made those enormous ropes called lines. You and your students will be surrounded by the smell of the sea air while being transported back in time, all while being taught a unique, yet more traditional STEM lesson.

What’s really great about museums is that even if you don’t live in the area, museum education departments are first and foremost about making STEM accessible. They all provide excellent resources for teachers on their websites including in-person or virtual seminars, opportunities for bringing their exhibits into your classroom with a virtual field trip or just providing tools for teaching and learning, very similar to the teaching methods WhyMaker provides during their Professional Development seminars and videos.

The main goal of STEM friendly museums is to educate the public through immersive exhibits, workshops and guided tours. Whatever your level of expertise, there’s nothing like seeing your students physically engage and make connections to the real world like you can in a museum. Using your local or national museums to further your students' educational involvement in STEM is a great way to engage your students emotionally in the learning process and expose them to discover new ways to explore, grow and dream about the future.

If you want to learn more about making connections between STEM and museums, whether you are a teacher or museum educator, please  reach out to us at WhyMaker for more information on how to do so!

Written By: Lori Stratton