Museum to Spark STEM Education with Plasma Globe
Greg Wilson/Anderson Observer
For 42 years, the Anderson County Museum has adhered to a simple mission: “letting history speak.” It has filled its galleries with the quiet, earnest stories of the county—textile mills, agrarian life, military heroes and the figures who shaped the Upstate. Now, the museum’s keepers have decided that history, in the twenty-first century, might have to share the stage.
The museum is embarking on a rather modern experiment beginning Saturday with the debut of two new features that might, at first glance, seem like a break from its established narrative. The first is a hands-on room for children, dubbed “The SPARK Station” (an acronym for STEM, Play, Assemble, and Research for Kids), which aims to make problem-solving and scientific inquiry as engaging as any historical reenactment. The second is a colossal, thirty-inch plasma globe, which, according to Museum Director Beverly Childs, will introduce “blue lightning’” to the museum’s exhibit on turbines and textiles.
"Education has always been a core value," said Childs, noting that the museum’s curriculum is expanding from history into the realms of science and technology. The new initiatives appear to be an attempt to bridge the gap between yesterday's ingenuity and tomorrow’s.
The SPARK Station is the brainchild of the children's program coordinator, Allyson Sanders, who has also created a new children’s club, the “Spark Squad.” The club will meet monthly and will teach children about science and technology by drawing from fables and fairytales, a rather charming fusion of old and new. "Each meeting will include a STEM learning activity," Sanders said, “and kids can create a journal entry for their own reoccurring science journal.”
Mergon Corporation, a local manufacturing company, has pledged $10,000 over four years to sponsor the Spark Station. Mergon Human Resources manager Kelly Manly said the partnership is “a natural fit,” which aims to “inspire future generations of engineers and problem-solvers.”
The plasma globe, meanwhile, the largest of its kind in the Upstate, was funded by a coalition of donors and the museum’s “Friends Board,” which, like many non-profit organizations, provides crucial financial support for exhibits and programming.
