Press Release During COVID-19 Health Crisis, National Children’s Museum Inspires Young Innovators to Change the World with Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Math

press release

During COVID-19 Health Crisis, National Children’s Museum Inspires Young Innovators to Change the World with Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Math

For immediate release:
April 30, 20
20

National Children’s Museum partners with Booz Allen Hamilton to launch a daily, digital series of projects and programs that celebrate STEAM-focused learning and play

Washington, DC – National Children’s Museum, a nationally recognized cultural and educational institution that serves children and families, is partnering with DMV-headquartered Booz Allen Hamilton to premiere daily, virtual science, technology, engineering, arts and math(STEAM) programs for families. The “#STEAMwork” series goes live on the Museum’s Facebook each day at 2:30pm EDT, and features STEAM-based projects, experiments, design and build challenges, and story times for children under twelve and their caregivers.

“At National Children’s Museum, we aim to inspire children to care about and change the world, and we think that mission is more important now than ever,” said Crystal Bowyer, President and CEO of National Children’s Museum. “I believe that one hopeful thing that could come out of this terrible moment in history is that more kids will take an interest in science and innovation, and turn to the sciences to solve problems in the world. We are honored to partner with Booz Allen Hamilton, a leader in the community, to help bring joy and learning to families during this challenging time.”

After reopening to the public on February 24, National Children’s Museum temporarily closed its doors as precaution against COVID-19 on March 13th. The Museum designed the #STEAMwork series to extend learning based on the Museum’s interactive experiences into homes. To ensure all families can participate, projects use accessible everyday materials that can be found at home or in nature.

#STEAMwork programs include Climate Action Hero Mondays, where the Museum team features weekly superhero missions that relate to Climate Action Heroes, an experience within the Museum’s Innovation Sandbox exhibit. Families can navigate to the Museum’s www.climate-heroes.org site to play an online game and discover their inner climate action superhero. On Thursdays, #STEAMwork poses a Design + Build challenge to encourage exploration of engineering principles and the design process.

As a critical piece of the partnership, Booz Allen Hamilton technical experts and STEAM leaders will participate in a corresponding virtual series “Playdate with an Expert” to be featured on the Museum’s platforms. These programs will expose viewers to a diversity of STEAM career pathways through experiments and projects led by content experts.

“Booz Allen’s partnership with National Children’s Museum will help to provide families with engaging activities during this unprecedented time and as importantly, encourage interest in STEAM career paths that are essential to solving our society’s toughest problems,” said Stephen Labaton, Executive Vice President of Corporate Affairs at Booz Allen Hamilton. “We are proud to partner with National Children’s Museum, which shares our commitment to empowering people to change the world through the promotion of programs that inspire a new generation to develop a life-long passion for science and innovative technologies.”  

About National Children’s Museum

Founded as the Capital Children’s Museum in 1974, the Museum served kids and families in the Washington region for thirty years in Northeast Washington, D.C. The Museum was renamed in 2003 when the U.S. Congress designated it the National Children’s Museum. For several years, NCM operated as a museum without walls by serving the region through traveling exhibitions, partnerships with other nonprofits, as well as community and school outreach programs. From 2012-2015, a small museum space was opened to the public at National Harbor, but closed in preparation for NCM’s next chapter in downtown D.C. Today, the National Children’s Museum is poised for its greatest chapter yet, as it prepares to reopen on the National Mall in late 2018.

###