Museum to be awarded for STEM classes
The Herschell Carrousel Factory Museum has announced Education Director Megan Hahin will be awarded the Engaging Communities Award for STEM classes as part of the Museum Association of New York's 2018 conference "Visioning Change."
This award recognizes an organization that uses creative methods to engage its community and build new audiences. The Herschell Carrousel Factory Museum has presented STEM-based educational classes to the Western New York community.
The primary focus of the Carrousel Museum's STEM classes is to create curriculum with a STEM focus for on-site classroom visits and field trip programs for elementary school students.
For example, the factory building highlights curriculum taught on simple machines. Simple machines were very important to carousel builders, and can be seen throughout the museum. During the tour of the museum, students go on a scavenger hunt to find simple machines, and can see their practical application. Their visit ends with a hands-on workshop where students build their own moving carousel animal out of cardboard to take home with them.
The other workshops include: sculpting play dough to learn about electrical circuits; playing carnival games and explaining them in terms of Newton's laws; and building marble run roller coasters to learn about potential and kinetic energy.
This program has been supported by a grant from IMLS, which has provided free admission and free bussing for children from local schools - especially those from low-income neighborhoods. These students have benefited from carefully planned lessons and activities that connect local history to STEM topics.
A University at Buffalo study found there is a lack of enrichment programs for children in the Western New York community. Educational field trips to the Herschell Carrousel Factory Museum seek to bridge that gap in order to reach and enrich the lives of children in the community.
The award ceremony will take place at 8 a.m. on Monday, April 9, at the Hyatt Regency Rochester.
