Asheville Museum Of Science

Steam programming: science learning through play and informal instruction is a proven method for creating positive associations with steam topics and skills. This year our educators served students through field trips, camps, workshops, guest lecturers, and science experiments. Amos's experiential and hands-on learning model serves as a pillar of community development, early education element, workforce preparation, and fun-filled exposure to steam subjects for children, families, and educators. Specifically, amos served: -8500 students through field trips -3500 students through outreach -900 students through after school programs -400 students through science camps

Exhibit exploration and play: amos features 8,000 square feet of hands-on exhibits and an interactive stem lab filled with technology, supplies for experiments, and internal/guest scientists who give lectures and engage with science lovers of all ages about complex subject matter. Amos successfully secured two exhibits to rotate through the space and provide guest with new and exciting learning opportunities. "life on the edge exhibit - designed with nasa, life on the edge is an immersive exhibition that delves into extreme environments on our planet and expands our understanding of where life might exist beyond earth. Visitors will uncover how life thrives in the most unexpected places-hidden in plain sight within vibrant microbial colonies. Discover how earth's harshest environments, like the atacama desert, serve as testing grounds for mars rover missions. Explore how light and spectroscopy help us detect the building blocks of life in distant worlds, and gain a deeper appreciation for nasa's ongoing search for life across the solar system. "exhibit expansion - amos has worked this year to relocate the current science museum shop to the building's lobby area and to add a dynamic exhibit and educational content to the current museum space. This move increases the visibility for amos and provides guests the opportunity to learn about wnc's natural resources in an effort to support a greater egard for protecting our area, leaving it better than was found, and being climate conscious. - art and science installation that will attract visitors to see art, technology and climate features like no other exhibits are currently on display in downtown asheville. - will have a direct and measurable impact on amos's existing network, through these pledged partnerships, with each of our partners benefitting from the predicted increase in revenue and visitation generated through amos's ability to reach a wider audience. -will be completed in 2025.

Galaxy games: the integrating stem and literature initiative (isli) began from the collaboration between asheville museum of science (nc) and the local school district (buncombe county schools) science coordinator working together to try and creatively find ways to integrate stem effectively into school classrooms burdened by lack of time and capacity. To solve this problem, we decided to focus on a holistic approach and combine curriculums. We developed a cross-curricular plan to integrate current student ela curriculum with their science curriculum by engaging students in problem-based learning. As students learn background knowledge in their ela class related to the proposed project (deemed galaxy games), amos provides curriculum/instruction, and a field trip experience to increase content knowledge so that students can solve the problem (creating an astronomy themed board game). This project serves 3rd grade elementary schools in buncombe county schools. Specific title i schools are targeted from the district administrative level as schools of high need serving a high ratio of underrepresented populations and/or high poverty (a range of 72-99% of the population of students in these schools receiving free or reduced lunch) impact: semester 1: 4 schools served- 259 students semester 2: 4 schools served- 200 students