International Museum Day

                                                              By Penelope K. & Silas P.
 
   In celebration of International Museum Day on May 18th, some of our staff members had the opportunity to speak with Karen Via, an External Programs Manager, from the Maryland Science Center to learn more about the programs there.

    The Maryland Science Center is an interactive museum with lots of opportunities for kids to get excited about science.  It is located at 601 Light Street in Baltimore.   The Maryland Science Center is open on Friday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. and Saturday and Sunday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.  Admissions for adults are $25 and Maryland students are free. To reserve a spot you can sign up online under the “visit” tab on the Maryland Science Center's website.

      The science center has lots of hands-on activities.  Their projects rotate every two weeks. There are interactive activities on the floor.  Some activities they have done before are Shrinky Dinks, paper marbling, and turtle racers.  There are pop up activities that are available on carts dispersed throughout the museum and there are also drop-in activities in The Shed. They also have shows twice a day. These include experiments that are not safe for everyone to do, but super cool to see.  Usually, the science center hosts students for field trips, but they have been unable to do that because of Covid-19.  However, they do have virtual field trips that schools can play for their students.

     Because Hampton is celebrating careers this month, our staff members decided to ask about some different types of careers at the Science Center. There are so many different types of careers!  Mrs. Via writes the curriculum and programming and she thinks of ways to present the information. There are also researchers. For example, there is someone who researches the stars and the universe and uses that plan for the planetarium presentations. There are also people in charge of the movies in the Imax theater.

    Our staff members asked Mrs. Via why she thought museums were important.  She said that the people creating the museums and presenting you with the information are equally as interested in it as you are and you can catch on to their excitement.

    Since there are so many different museums in Baltimore, we wanted to know why people should choose to come visit the Maryland Science Center.

    “I think the museum is so unique because we have lots of hands-on experiments right here in the museum,” said Mrs. Via.  “Hopefully, everyone can learn that they can be great as science.  It can be a whole lot of fun.”