Interact, Explore, Discover @ Your Own Pace:STEM Stations for Young Children@ Montgomery County Public Libraries, MD

About the Program

Category: Libraries (Best in Category)

Year: 2016

As part of the effort to support STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) learning, Montgomery County Public Libraries (MCPL), MD, has developed and implemented STEM Stations for children, their families and caregivers. Under the umbrella initiative “All Children Excel” (ACE), a unique early literacy and education set of programs designed to help children and their families thrive at home and in school, the Stations are geared towards children ages 2 to 12 years old. Intended to explore the world of science in an engaging manner, each Station focuses on a STEM topic, has hands-on manipulative demonstrations, an informational poster about the theme, activity instructions and interesting facts with open-ended questions to encourage inquisitiveness and curiosity. Spread throughout the library, the Stations are free-standing so that children can approach and explore them at their own pace and learn about topics such as electricity, magnetism, air pressure, and optics. MCPL began displaying STEM Stations at one library branch during the summer of 2014. Due to their popularity, MPCL expanded the Stations system-wide in April 2015 so that children could experience science through sight and touch in an interactive fashion while exploring and creating.