Injecting STEAM Into Everything You Do!
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Want to bring STEAM to your library? Find ways to leverage existing dollars, programs, spaces, services and collections and integrate STEAM components. Don’t worry about reinventing the wheel at your library; just inject some STEAM in to what you already do! NYLA MSRT Webinar delivered on 8/25/15 by Fayetteville Free Library
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Injecting STEAM Into Everything You Do!
- 1. + Injecting STEAM into Everything You Do! NYLA MSRT Webinar August 25th 2015 Sue Considine MSRT President Executive Director, Fayetteville Free Library Email: sconsidine@fflib.org Meredith Levine MSRT Secretary Director of Family Engagement Email: mlevine@fflib.org Margaret Portier Director of Innovative Family Services Email: mportier@fflib.org Leah Kraus MSRT President-Elect Director of Community Engagement Email: lkraus@fflib.org
- 2. + NYLA MSRT
- 3. +Get Involved! Save the Dates: Session 4: Making the Makerspace: October 7, 2-3 PM October 21, 2015: “So You Want to Make a Makerspace” Preconference at NYLA Annual Get Involved: Go to NYLA.org -> Membership ->Roundtables ->MSRT Sign the NYLA Section Petition! Become the MSRT Student Liaison!
- 4. + Overview Injecting STEAM into Library Spaces Injecting STEAM into Library Collections & Services Injecting STEAM in Existing Programs
- 5. + Injecting STEAM into our SPACES
- 6. + Key Strategies: “STEAM-up” existing spaces Repurpose underutilized or duplicative spaces To do so, ask, “What can we STOP doing?”
- 7. + Assess Your Space! Look for opportunities both small and large Respond to community needs
- 8. + Rethinking Budgets Rethink Programming Budgets: STEAM kits, technologies, and tools can be used again and again in scheduled programs, as well as on a drop-in basis Assess Other Budget Lines: Are we expending resources in areas that have lost their relevance?
- 9. + “STEAM Up” Existing Spaces
- 10. + FFL Creation Lab 250 square foot tutoring room 2 PC’s and iMac Adobe Creative Suite iLife Creative Suite Green Screen Wall Video Cameras Digital Cameras Podcasting Station Scanning Station and more
- 11. + Family Room Replaced the storytime room Informal Play and Community Engagement Early Literacy and STEM White Wall Train Table Early Literacy iPad Video Games Puzzles Karaoke Machine
- 12. + Little Makers Located in a corner of the children’s room Invention Box Free Play Toys Goldie Blox KaleidoGears Roominate doll houses Legos Snap Circuits
- 13. + Injecting STEAM into our COLLECTION & SERVICES
- 14. + Non-Fiction Collection Dewey Hybrid Model Easy discovery Expanding nonfiction to support STEM literacy Fab Lab reference collection
- 15. + STEM Kits, Early Literacy iPads Born to Read Ready to Read I AM STEM Let’s Learn
- 16. + Circulating Devices iPads Kindles Nooks Family Engagement iPads Early Literacy iPads
- 17. + Computers & Software •MinecraftEdu •Tinkercad •Sketchup •iLife Suite •Adobe Creative Suite •Audacity •Celestia •Kerbal Space Program •Kodu Game Lab •Lynda.com •Webucator
- 18. + Injecting STEAM into our PROGRAMS
- 19. + Most public libraries offer: Storytimes Craft programs Summer Reading events Book Clubs
- 20. + STEAM Up Storytimes! Digital Storytime Read a picture book app Science Storytime Add a non-fiction book or a science craft
- 21. + STEAM Up Craft Programs! Origami/ Circuits Derby cars Cardboard challenge (CainesArcade.com) Needle arts (knitting, crochet, felting) Rollercoaster engineering Catapults Airplanes Tangrams
- 22. + STEAM Up Summer Reading! STEAM programs based on the summer theme This summer= Superhero Science Next summer = Science of Health and Wellness Work with local teachers, organizations and volunteers
- 23. + STEAM Up Summer Reading! Immersive STEAM Learning Opportunities (STEAM Camps) Geek Girl Camp Superhero Camp Self Defense Camp
- 24. + STEAM Up Your Book Clubs! Author Skype Book Club STEAMPunk Club Books & Brownies
- 25. + Conclusion Save the Dates: Session 4: Making the Makerspace: October 7, 2-3 PM October 21, 2015: “So You Want to Make a Makerspace” Preconference at NYLA Annual Get Involved: Go to NYLA.org -> Membership - >Roundtables ->MSRT Sign the NYLA Section Petition!
- 26. + Questions? Sue Considine FFL Executive Director sconsidine@fflib.org NYLA MSRT Website: www.nyla.org Memberships-> Roundtables Fayetteville Free Library Website: www.fflib.org Twitter: @fayettevillelib
Editor's Notes
- Sue: Welcome to the third webinar put on by MSRT – NYLA’s newest roundtable focused on making and STEAM learning. This roundtable was started to allow New York State libraries to connect and share knowledge about Making and STEAM across all library types and to all types of library staff. There is so much innovation and inspired activity happening in libraries right now, and we think it’s a critical time to connect, share, and inspire one another as we move in new directions. You can join MSRT for just $5 when added to an existing NYLA membership. Go to NYLA.org and click on Memberships, then Roundtables, to join today!
- Sue: We wanted to start by sharing some Save the Dates our upcoming webinars and continuing ed events. Our 4th webinar is called “Making the Makerspace,” and it will be held on October 7th from 2-3 PM. It will be an overview to strategies for getting started with the maker movement at your library. Then, on October 21st, we will be leading a day-long preconference at NYLA Annual in Lake Placid, called “So You Want to Make a Makerspace.” This will be a full-day, hands-on workshop that will dive extensively into strategies related to Funding and Resources, Policies, Staffing, Training, Technologies, Programs, and more for bringing making to your library. Participants will get a crash course on 3D printing, 3D modeling, electronics, robotics, and more. Registration is now open for this preconference session. One of the most important ways you can get involved today with MSRT is to sign and submit the NYLA Section petition. Our goal is to make MSRT a section so that we can provide multiple, meaningful, virtual and on site connecting and learning opportunities, not only at the annual conference but throughout the year. Making MSRT a section will also allow us to have a seat on NYLA Council so we can move the Making and STEAM agenda forward through libraries across the state. To help make MSRT a section, please go to the NYLA MSRT website and submit the form you’ll find there by mail, fax or email! We also have a new opportunity for students to hold an at-large board position with MSRT, as our Student Liaison. The student liaison will play a critical role assisting students in making connections with library professionals particularly interested in Making and STEAM in libraries. The student liaison will receive free conference registration for the NYLA Annual Conference in Lake Placid, October 21-24th, 2015. Please share this opportunity with any interested students you may know. More info can be found about applying for this position on the NYLA MSRT web page.
- Leah: Our presentation today will start with strategies and examples for injecting STEAM into library spaces. We’ll then talk about injecting STEAM into library collections and services, and finally, we’ll focus on strategies for injecting STEAM into your existing programs.
- Leah Most libraries contain common spaces -collection spaces, meeting room spaces and communal spaces like reading rooms or cafes. One approach is to begin by asking ourselves – how can we enhance these spaces, making slight additions or changes to them, in order to integrate opportunities for STEM learning and interest-building? A second approach to is take efforts to identify and repurpose underutilized or duplicative spaces in your library, in order to tranform these into spaces dedicated to STEAM learning and exploration. In order to do both of these things, we at the Fayetteville Free Library have found that it is critical to start by asking : what can we STOP doing in our spaces and with our resources in order to provide more access to hands-on STEM learning in the library’s spaces?
- So to determine what we can STOP doing, assessing our spaces is critical. Have you informally observed that certain areas of your library seem to often be going unused? Maybe this is a closed door space, like a tutoring room, or a storytime room that no one uses outside of storytime hours, or a board room that is only used once a month for board meetings. Maybe it’s something as simple as a tucked away corner of your kids room, a work table or station, or a duplicative catalog computer station that often sits unused. If so, pick a week or two for staff members or volunteers to more formally observe these suspect areas, keeping tally of what days of the week and times of day that room, station or corner is in use, and confirm your hunch. Then ask, based on use, does it continue to make sense to reserve these spaces for their current purposes? Or is there elsewhere in the library or community that the activities going on in those spaces can take place? Additionally, are there opportunities to reorganize your floorspace more effectively? Can a closet be cleaned out to store items to roll out for STEM clubs and programs? Can a collection be reorganized to open up some wall space or floorspace for an iPad kiosk or STEM material display? We took this very approach at our library, and observed that our Storytime room and our largest Teen Tutoring Room were indeed sitting empty a large percentage of the time. We also noted the potential with these spaces that the activities going on within them could easily happen elsewhere in the library or in the community. For instance, with the teen tutoring room, tutoring could happen in our other two small tutoring rooms, or in our Reading Room space, or at many other spaces in the community. Similarly we noted the potential of storytime to be held elsewhere in the library, such as in our Community Meeting Room space. We also observed a few tucked away corners within our collection areas, like a back corner of our Kids Room, that was sort of not visible because of shelving and nothing was really ever going on back there, that might be revamped to feature STEAM learning elements.
- Leah Having identified some areas of the library where you want to develop STEM dedicated spaces or add elements to support STEM learning, it can also be helpful to take a close look at what you can stop doing in regards to your budget – to be able to reallocate funds to move in this direction. Particularly, one area we took a close look at was our programming budget. Explain. We also took a close look at our DATABASE budget. Explain.
- Having then identified both the spaces and the resources needed, here are some examples of how we moved forward with both adding STEM elements to our existing spaces. We’ve integrated rotating displays on STEAM topics into our collection spaces. We’ve integrating iPad stations throughout our spaces loaded with STEM learning apps. We now feature a Pop-Up STEAM Shop in our library, that moves around to different locations in the library each month and features interactive experiments that change every month. We put out STEM learning kits in our café space, such as LEGO kits, Thames & Kosmos kits, and more. We feature AWE stations in our kids rooms that support early literacy and early STEM learning. We applied for a grant and got funding to purchase a computers on wheels unit, which contains 20 laptops, which we store in a closet in our Community Room and roll out for coding clubs and other technology programs. Similarly, we’ve stored an A/V cart in closet in our Community Room, that we roll out fortools or technologies for STEM learning programs – whether that means microscopes, laptops, 3D printers, robot kits, whatever – that are rolled out into an existing meeting room space on a periodic basis or for particular programs.
- I mentioned that we identified a large teen tutoring room that most of the time sat empty. We converted this space into a digital media lab, that we call the FFL Creation Lab. In this 250 square foot space, community members can drop in and access the tools and technologies needed to make and edit photos, graphics, videos , podcasts, websites, comic strips, video games, and more. It is a drop in space, but also one that can be used for
- Meredith: The FFL Family Room is an example of an underutilized closed door space that we opened up and added STEM elements to. Before, this room was used as the storytime room and had a desk in it used by a team member. The doors were only open when people were coming in and out of storytime. The space was only used for storytimes and community meetings. The space was large and under utilized. It was also uninviting with its doors constantly closed. So, the team at the FFL began to think together; “How can we rethink this space” and create a learning space that is accessible for children during all library hours? We wanted a space that was inviting, open, accessible, educational and fun for families of all ages. We want to create a room just for families….and through meetings and brainstorming, the FFL Family Room was created. The Family Room is an open, inviting space with doors that never close. A space with two wii’s with appropriate games kids enjoy. A train table for our younger patrons to have access to whenever they are at the library allowing them to play and interact with other children. Puzzles, iPads and a TV where patrons can play their favorite movie or listen to their favorite CD, developing early literacy skills through dance and movement. And finally the white wall, where patrons can imagine and create while writing on the wall. This room targets our youngest patrons and introduces them to STEAM even at the most basic level, like using their imagination drawing on the wall, using technology, like apps on the iPad, or playing with trains.
- Meredith: This back corner of the children’s room was another under utilized space. There were several table and a few chairs that were seldom used by patrons. The position of the shelving unit that houses our readers also cut off the space and blocked sight lines across the room. In fact, unless they were looking for a specific book, most patrons forgot that this corner existed, all together. At the FFL we have a vision of libraries as centers of community creation, and we actively foster a culture of making and innovating. This culture should be encouraged and instilled in patrons of all ages, however, a gap in our services left young children without the space and opportunity to participate in maker culture. This space was the perfect opportunity to fill that gap. The Little Makers area is a free play space with attached programs designed to encourage children to imagine, create, and build. The supplies provided in the space help develop critical thinking, and STEAM skills. Permanent frames with clothespins and shelves on the wall allow our community’s little makers to share their creations with the community. The space includes an “invention box” with craft supplies and community donations that children can take and use for their own creations. It also has Roominate DIY wired dollhouse building kits, Snap Circuits which make learning how to use electronics easy (seen in picture), MaKey MaKey which allows you to become an inventor by alligator clipping the Internet to anything like bananas or Play Doh, Bionic Blox, an architectural construction and building set, Kaleido gears, which teaches children the simple principles of mechanics and Goldie Blox, which offer a story, games and activities to encourage girls to learn engineering skills. As librarians and educators we understand the importance of STEM skills and play in childhood development. So, in addition to the free play activities inherent in the space, we have created a series of Little Makers programs. These programs utilize the children’s natural curiosity and the power of their imaginations to explore various STEM concepts. It is this emphasis on exploration and free play that makes these programs so rewarding.
- Meredith: M: In an effort to not only make browsing easier in the library but to make otherwise not so exciting titles get the exposure they deserve we adapted a Dewey Hybrid model! We moved funds in our collections budgets around to support the push for more nonfiction titles and expanded that section. During that process we also converted the collection into categories, with correlating stickers. We have found collection numbers have risen and children are more interested in reading nonfiction now that the collection is easier to browse. With the bright stickers that were made using Microsoft Word and printed at a local print shop paired with the bright orange signs, families have a much easier time finding the books they are looking for and discovering new titles along the way. With the push for more non fiction, we have been conscious of our purchasing and buying titles that support STEAM learning in a fun, engaging way. We have also made sure to purchase titles that pair with what we are doing on a day to day basis in the library. We have also developed a reference collection in our Fab Lab to support making in the library. This collection sits in the Fab Lab space and varies everywhere from knitting and crocheting, to Ardunio and CAD design. Similar titles have also been added to our adult nonfiction collection as well.
- Meredith: As you have seen, we are actively engaging and supporting families as their child’s first teachers in our spaces, programs, and beyond our library’s walls. We ensure that families have the information and resources they need to pursue early literacy and STEM learning at home. We created “Born to Read Kits” that are designed based on the research of Every Child Ready to Read. The kits are based around a topic, like “seasons” or “transportation”, and contain three board books, one children’s music CD, a toy and a laminated insert that suggests extension activities, and tips for reading with your baby. These kits encourage young children to talk, sing, read, write, and play, while explaining to parents why these practices are vital to their children’s development, and many of the themes featured in the kits have a STEM focus like “animals” or “weather.” We also offer Read to Read kits which similarly emphasize the early literacy skills through three related picture books. Often referred to as “storytime in a bag”, our early literacy kits are favorites with working parents who may not have the time to attend traditional programming. We also offer a host of information about early literacy on our website, so families can learn about best practices without having to leave their homes. We have also created “I AM” kits for preschoolers, that will help think about future career paths. This is an idea that we took away from last year’s Family Learning Summit, which we’ve modified to give it our own, STEM spin. With these kits, children can imagine what it would be like to be a scientist, an engineer, a biologist, and more, in addition to more traditional careers. Our STEM kids include: Renewable Energy STEM Kits (build and try hundreds of experiment with wind power, solar power, and hydropower), Electricity and Circuit Kits (learn about electricity and create a functioning circuit with Little Bits, Snap Circuits), K’nex education kits (be an engineer. You can build and test bridges, amusement parks, moving vehicles and more!) Finally, our Let’s Learn kits allow patrons to explore and create new things and discover new hobbies.
- Margaret: At the FFL we are actively linking new digital technologies to discovery and access through our circulating device collections. The library circulates a collection of iPads, Kindles, and Nooks to the community. The devices come preloaded with the newest bestsellers and the most popular apps. Each collection was developed with an audience and the learning goals and needs of that audience in mind. For example, our Family Engagment iPads are geared towards school-aged children and teens, and are loaded with great STEM apps like Skyguide, Science 360, Scratch, and Daisy the Dinosaur. We also support early learning through our Early Literacy iPads. We support parents’ decisions regarding screen time and we strive to act as “media mentors” to help families find a balance between new and traditional media forms. Studies have found that “the active, appropriate use of technology and media can support and extend traditional materials in valuable ways.” Therefore, our “Early Literacy iPads” are loaded with librarian selected content that promote the five early literacy practices, STEM learning, and creative development. The iPads come with an insert that encourages shared parent-child interaction with the device, and offers information about the current research on children and new media. We also offer 1-on-1 technology assistance to individuals and families to help them learn to utilize these technologies to the fullest.
- Margaret: We think of the library’s computers and the software on them as a collection that should be maintained and curated to support STEM learning, as well. Examples of software we load onto our computers for this purpose include: -Minecraft.edu -Tinkercad and Sketchup – both are free and open source 3D modelling software -Mac iLife suite (Garage band, iPhoto, iMovie) -Adobe Creative Suite -Audacity -Celestia -Kerbal Space Program -Kodu Game Lab -STEAM learning programs like Lynda.com and webucator
- Margaret Going along with our trend today talking about injecting STEAM literacy learning into library offerings, let’s talk about programs. Here are four examples of traditional public library offerings: storytime, craft programs, a summer reading program, and at least one book club. Now, let’s examine these programs similarly to the way we have examined spaces and collections so far and see if we can find ways to inject some STEAM.
- Margaret Storytime can be a powerful experience for young learners. Even before they walk, an effective story time can make a significant impact that will help physical as well as social and emotional development. Storytime increases children's social, communication, and literacy skills and introduces them to the world of STEAM. By exposing these young learners to STEAM subjects at this impressionable age, we are fostering a love to learn that they will carry with them throughout school and life. Storytime is a very active and tactile experience where we encourage children and parents not just to listen, but to touch, hear, see, feel, and move. We use iPads in story time to incorporate these different types of learning while exposing children and their parents to new technology and the ways it can be utilized for developing pre and early literacy skills as well as gain a basic understanding of how this technology is used. In digital storytimes, we model effective use of touch screen technology in early learning. This can be as simple as selecting and reading a picture book app in addition to the other print titles you share. You can also project the words to your hello and goodbye songs and to rhymes that you use to encourage hesitant parents to participate in the fun. We have also made concentrated effort to infuse more science and math into our storytimes. This can be done by simply adding a non-fiction book to your storytime lineup. As a bonus, studies show that when parents read non-fiction titles with their children, they actually talk to their child more and use more words! This means that you’re incorporating STEAM, AND two early literacy practices (reading and talking). Since you probably already incorporate a craft or some free play time, why not rethink that activity to have a stem focus as well? If you are doing a weather theme you could talk about wind power and make pinwheels; if you just read about gardens, why not label the parts of a flower? We’ve explored science storytime topics that included: Reactions & Explosions!, Rocks & Plants!, Stars & Space!, Gravity, Motion & Magnets!, and Animals! We got to be chemists and we played with fizzy colored solutions, we watched erupting elephant toothpaste. We were geologists and biologists and we examined rocks and plants with magnifying glass. One day we decided to be astronomers, and we laid back on the community room floor and explored the galaxy projected on the library’s ceiling. Finally, we tried our hands at physics and tested the principles of gravity and magnetism. It’s easier than you think to do a STEM storytime!
- Margaret: Arts and crafts programs are simple and fun for all age groups. Arts and crafts are already rich in STEAM literacy concepts. Have you ever painted something but realized you didn’t have the right colors? You identify a need: I have no purple paint. You ask a question, how do I make purple paint? You create a hypothesis: I can mix 2 colors together. Then you test the hypothesis by blending red and blue until you get your desired color. You may not consciously identify these steps, but the process is there. Here are some craft programs that have very specific STEAM literacy components and some ideas for expanding on the basic idea: Origami involves an understanding of math and geometry and you can even expand upon that by using copper tape, LEDs, and some batteries to turn a simple flapping crane into a light-up paper sculpture. Derby cars – Doesn’t everyone love playing with toy cars at one time or another? Either have the components and tools available or have them pre-assembled based on the age of your audience. After they decorate their cars, let them test speed, weight, and distance. How much does it weigh? Will it go down the ramp faster or slower than a heavier car? Will it go farther? What happens if we increase the angle of the ramp? These are the kinds of questions you can ask and have the participants play to learn. Cardboard Challenge – This is an annual global challenge that involves children in making stuff out of cardboard. Inspired by Caine’s Arcade, an entire arcade made out of cardboard and duct tape, you can involve your community in making all kinds of things using all the cardboard that builds up in the library. All those boxes books are delivered in, all those cartons of paper… Imagine what your community can make of them? Needle arts are also pretty heavy in math concepts like counting and pattern recognition. Find a table or some chairs somewhere in your library and start a simple club, inviting people who know how and people who want to learn and letting them teach and learn from each other. We actually developed a few “Let’s Learn” kits with introductory tools and books for crochet and knitting and whenever someone checks one out we tell them about the knitting club Rollercoaster engineering is a simple arts and crafts program using pool noodles to simulate a roller coaster track. Run the marbles down the track and see if you can challenge your patrons to make them loop the loop or corkscrew Catapults can be made from rubber bands, plastic spoons, and popsicle sticks or scaled up and made from wood using real tools. When we make catapults with our kids they usually get to end the event by launching marshmallows or pompoms at each other. Paper airplanes are similar to origami and you can ask questions and measure things like how far it flew, what the surface area of the wings is, how heavy, and you can test how small changes in the shape of the plane affect the flight path. Tangrams are a math tool that can be used for all ages.
- Meredith: STEAM is everywhere so you can easily add science to support any program. This year the CSLP theme was Superheroes so we had a Superhero Science program every Monday. We based the majority of these programs around a series of TED videos that explained the science behind some of the most common superhero powers and whether or not they could actually work in the real world. Flight, super strength etc. Flight- made paper airplanes, parachutes and learned about gravity Space- looked at the planets with a projector up to the ceiling using Celestia, went outside and set off a bottle rocket Strength- learned about shapes that are the strongest and test the weight of books on paper and made bridges and did exercises to talk about how the body gets its strength Some other programs included our Defying Gravity program where we did experiments testing our center of mass and pulled out the green screen sheet and sent kids home with a picture of them actually defying gravity as you can see in the top photo. In the photo below a Syracuse University intern did a series of programs with multiple age groups and this one was about worms, our underground heroes. Kids got to learn about worms hands on, it made for a great interactive program. Other programs she led included DIY hydroponics, composting, and bird watching. Next summer’s theme is centered around Health and Wellness and here are some ideas to inject STEAM into that program Run a food science program. This summer at Geek Girl Camp we had Sally Mitchell an Albert Einstein Distinguished Educator Fellow and Chemistry teacher at East-Syracuse Minoa High School teach girls about taste, they tried pretzels, warheads and baking soda in the back of their mouths. The experiment was so cool and such an easy way to learn. Patrons can also keep track of calories, water intake, exercise and more along with the books they are reading. This combines math and science. You can also have a math dance where kids can learn simple concepts like symmetry Many of us partner with community members throughout the year for programs and program support and this is especially beneficial during the summer months when we are the busiest. Look out to local museums, teachers, interns and experts like the local weathercaster to come and run programs at the library.
- Meredith: Immersive STEAM Opps: M: We piloted Geek Girl Camp in the summer of 2014, 5 hours a day for 5 days straight. 44 girls were in attendance from all over the CNY area. We understood the challenges for STEM programming for girls, which include a lack of clear, early pathways for girls in STEM fields and also a lack of access to female role models in STEM. It was Geek Girl Camp’s goal to create an early pathway to STEM by doing hands on activities and interact with inspiring women currently in STEM fields. We specifically targeted girls entering grades 3−5. Other STEM camps for girls in our area exist, but for girls in middle and high school. Furthermore, we found that across the country, there was little opportunity for this grades 3−5 age group, and access was limited due to lack of affordability. STEM camps can range anywhere from $100-$500 or more per week. The cost of our camp was only $25 and included a snack and a t-shirt. The library as a trusted place in our community also served as the perfect setting for this camp. Without hesitation about participation from speakers we had 9 women come to the FFL or Skype in from organizations like Girls in Tech, academics from Cornell University and Syracuse University, a pilot from the US Military and Facebook! We dug into our personal contacts, linkedin and tech meet up events. We wanted girls to know that STEM is for everyone and by creating this bridge to current role models it made it evident that they could be just like them! It was one of our rules and the most important rule of the camp that you are going to fail and that is okay! This not only made it easy for us when experiments didn’t work but built the confidence these young learners needed when math or science became to difficult to understand or they felt they wanted to give up. By creating this rule of its okay to fail, no one gave up after the first try and not one tear was shed throughout the whole camp. We wanted to create a community of young learners supporting each other through this adventure of learning STEM skills and sharing ideas. We had a Geek Girl Day on Feburary, 16th of this year where campers and new faces reunited for a day of STEM. We had two PhD students from Syracuse University join us and we did maglev, glow in the dark, potions and catapult experiments. We just completed our second year of Geek Girl Camp the last week in July. We had 48 campers with the addition of 9 CIT’s in middle and high school. This years camp featured a field trip to the School of computer science and engineering at Syracuse University, team members from the Microsoft store teaching game design, creating pool noodle roller coasters and Skyping in with Dr. Mamta Nagaraja Patel at NASA where we were able to ask all the questions we had about space and much more. It is our goal to continually provide STEM programming for girls so they continue to stay interested and engaged and build confidence in these areas. From the success of our pilot year of Geek Girl Camp we found the importance and value of immersive programs. This summer we ran a two day superhero camp where kids created their own superhero persona, did superhero challenges, made videos, and played superhero games. We also ran a full day Self Defense Camp where families learned about how to handle bullies in the morning and did group exercises together and then had a local karate school come in the afternoon to teach patrons self defense moves. Since offering these immersive opportunities the community has asked for more. Next summer we will be piloting a STEAM camp for boys and continue to offer full and half day sessions of STEAM related programs throughout the year.
- Margaret? We have 3 book clubs that we have also integrated STEAM components into. Author Skype – adult book club with tech component STEAM Punk – read scifi and do experiments based on book concepts Books & Brownies – read fiction and do crafts (pictured: Harry Potter wand making at Books and Brownies)
- Margaret: In conclusion, incorporating STEM into your spaces, collections, and programs doesn’t require you to start from scratch. Instead, look at your spaces and the way your community uses them. Find the underutilized and under appreciated spaces and turn them into destination spaces. Examine your collections and find ways to improve access to and circulation of your STEAM related materials by presenting them to your community in a new way, whether it is something like a Dewey Hybrid shift, skill kits, or incredible displays. Don’t forget that your library computers and databases are a great way to provide STEAM literacy tools and there is a lot of great free software out there. And lastly, get your captive audience attending library programs involved in STEAM learning by asking questions and modeling the way STEAM skills can be learned and utilized. If you’re interested in learning more about STEAM and Making, don’t forget to get involved by joining the MSRT Roundtable, attending our next webinar on October 7th, or getting your hands dirty at the MSRT Preconference session at NYLA’s Annual conference on October 21st.