Wyoming Museums Are Going Online To Help Educate Our Kids
Our amazing state of Wyoming is all about working together, so it's not really a surprise that even though our museums have been closed to the public, they are still hard at work for our communities.
Several Wyoming museums are going online to help educate our kids during the Coronavirus Quarantine.
Up first is one of our favorite local spots, The Science Zone.
Jason DeWitt is the Development and Marketing Director at The Science Zone.
Here is what he had to say...
When the NCSD sent out the order to close schools for three weeks, more than a dozen field trips from schools all over Natrona County were also canceled. The staff and board of The Science Zone assembled and came up with ways to keep our would-be visitors engaged in STEAM education and to help all the new parents learning to also be homeschool teachers in Wyoming. Thanks to the genorosty of the MANY local orginzations that answered our calls for help, we found funding to produce short, engaging, sometimes irreverent but accurate, science videos. To provide parents and teachers an actual lesson with activities, we also produce, "Learn with the Doc," with our staff microbiologist, Dr. Kelsey Phillips. These videos are posted every Tuesday and Thursday and is accompanied by a take-home-science kit that has all the materials for the lessons with Dr. Phillips.
The Science Zone's videos are short, educational, and entertaining, and you can find them on their YouTube Channel. Here is a look at one about dry ice.
We asked Dawn Anderson (Zookeeper at The Science Zone) why she was excited to help create these videos. She talked about how seeing the animals on video could bring joy to homebound children.
Keeping our kids minds engaged during these difficult times is extremely important, and we hope that by seeing their animal friends at The Science Zone, it brings a bit of joy and laughter to them while they learn new facts about our critters they never knew before!
The Casper Planetarium is also creating great content for children, and often shares links to other learning opportunities too.
The Buffalo Bill Center of the West located in Cody, Wyoming has Skype classes as well as a variety of other online activities available for children and their parents.
Heart Mountain "Relocation Center" has created a new online curriculum as well so that kids and parents can learn about this time in our state's history.
Even Yellowstone has options where you and your children can take virtual tours of its amazing landscapes...all from the safety of your home.
And, if you want to get out of Wyoming and take a look at museums in some other states, here is a great list of museums across the United States that are offering online tours and education for kids.