Adventure Science Center Opens State-of-the-Art Education Hub to Advance STEM Learning

Key Highlights :

Development of two new classrooms to provide room for increased capacity in K–12 science, technology, engineering, and math education and for placement of signature workforce preparation programs.

Possible expansion due to local support through organizations and foundations to enable greater access to learning science and technology.

Key Background :

The Adventure Science Center, a downtown staple, has dominated informal science education with hands-on exhibits, interactive displays, and public events since 1945. Now it's an innovation center with 44,000 square feet of exhibit space and various learning areas with the purpose of encouraging curiosity among children and adults.

It has also added in recent years specialized areas like the Tinkering Garage, i² Makerspace, and sensory rooms to address diverse learning needs. Plans in the future include more exhibitions space and a high-profiled health science exhibit, proving it means business in making STEM fun and interesting.

School tours and hands-on experience are the foundation of activities for the center. More than 26,000 students visited schools in 2024 and nearly 17,000 visited interactive science-technology performances, live shows, and planetarium performances. Through all these, students can be guaranteed to experience science and technology in a tangible, hands-on form.

TWISTER and CR³W are among the programs that seek to bridge the gap between professional life and student life by exposing secondary students to a host of STEM careers. Programs that are available to secondary students seek to prepare young students for the knowledge and training they need for an increasingly science-driven economy.

The construction of the Education Center was made possible by joint donations from different benefactor organizations and business sponsors. The initiative is a gesture of gratitude from the community in paying tribute to the importance of STEM education towards the development of the next generations.

The opening of the Education Center is more than a physical transformation, but a strategic step towards the center's goal of arousing curiosity, inspiring innovation, and demystifying science for the masses. In transforming vacant space into a vibrant discovery center in reoccupying unused space, the Adventure Science Center positions itself as a leader in science engagement and education.

About the Author

Mia Jones

Mia Jones is a Managing Editor at Education Excellence Magazine.