| Why do you think this project is appropriate for the course assignment? | - DISCOVERY Children's Museum is a nonprofit children’s museum in Las Vegas, founded in 1984. The museum is dedicated to providing children of all abilities, backgrounds, and beliefs, access to fun and exciting STEAM (science, technology, engineering, art, and math) educational experiences.
- Adjacent to The Smith Center in Downtown Las Vegas.
- The Museum sees roughly 250,000 visitors each year.
- The mission of DISCOVERY Children’s Museum is to foster a welcoming, vibrant, and inclusive environment where all are invited to engage in playful and educational experiences that ignite a lifelong love of learning.
- The building is a LEED certified building and has more sustainability aspirations but it appears that it didn't go nearly as far as it could - water, waste, energy, habitat, being a living building, having the community interact with the building in and of itself
- Group 4 Team Member, Kat Klehm, is the Executive Director of Lincoln Dynamic Foundation based in Las Vegas. She is very familiar with the museum and highly connected with their upper management to allow opportunities for our team’s interviews throughout the TRP project.
- This project, although the building is complete and the exhibit remodel is almost 75% complete, allows the opportunity for our work with TRP to come alive. The museum staff is very open to Regenerative ideas and we could possibly form new ideas for current exhibits and future projects with their team.
|
|---|
| Additional Useful Information | - Museum is a 501 (c)3
- Building is complete: opened in 2013
- Water exhibit is currently in design and possibly construction (75%)
- Located in the center of downtown Las Vegas and is surrounded by numerous underserved communities, many of which are in food deserts
- Focused on toddlers to G8 kids
- Provides internships for HS students - perhaps able to introduce regenerative practices to them as part of their internships
- Nevada is one of the lowest scoring states for education
Current Exhibits:
- The Summit: A three story, adventure-filled tower with interactive science exhibits on every floor, along with climbing and sliding structures that make it a physically challenging and mentally stimulating.
- DISCOVERY Lab: It doesn’t get more hands-on than this. The Discovery Lab is an innovative maker space where kids can get creative, imagine, build, take risks, and feel free to make mistakes and learn from them.
- Patents Pending: Budding engineers will love this lab-like environment that’s all about using experimentation, invention, problem solving and tinkering to solve design and engineering challenges.
- Toddler Town: A unique, hands-on learning environment designed especially for the endlessly curious, imaginative and always-learning under-5 set.
- Water World: Water is precious and powerful. Here kids might get a little wet, but it’s all in the process of learning all about the wonder of water.
- Fantasy Festival: A feast for every child’s imagination, Fantasy Festival features stage sets, costumes and interactive displays that will have the kids entertaining you for a change.
- Young At Art: This is a whimsical, wonderful environment where naturally-artistic kids can explore the “language” of art and spark their creativity at different “creative stations” featuring a variety of artistic mediums.
- Eco City: This exhibit is all business. Kids can participate in different jobs in an environmentally-friendly city, featuring interactive businesses including a hospital, store, café, airport, auto shop and the new Raiders stadium.
- Solve It!: This immersive exhibit is all about investigation. Visitors are tasked with solving a challenging mystery by gathering data in different environments, all while learning the scientific problem-solving skills used in investigations.
Current Outreach Programs:
- DISCOVERY on Wheels: Developed 2009, DISCOVERY Children’s Museum’s DISCOVERY on Wheels program brings hands-on, interactive health science programs directly to the classroom. Trained educators offer specific lesson plans that follow national, state, and local curriculum standards. The curriculum targets Kindergarten - 5th grade elementary school students in Clark County, public, charter, and private schools. A professional Museum educator facilitates the program along with everything needed for the learning experience. Each program can accommodate approximately 30 participants, up to six programs a day at the same school.
- Museums for All: Museums for All is an admission subsidies program that offers a greatly-reduced admission price of just $3.00 to anyone on food assistance (i.e. in possession of a valid SNAP, WIC, or EBT card) as well as to foster families.
- YouthWorks: Established in 1994, the Museum’s YouthWorks Internship program is designed for high school students ages 15-17 years old. This program affords teens a chance to gain educational enrichment, learn new skills, and start an employment portfolio while developing personal and professional growth experiences.
|
|---|
