Friday, September 25, 2020

New Programs at the Bean Museum!

School is back in session all over Utah county! The Bean Museum is so excited to be interacting with students again. It is a historical school year. All of our normal outreaches have been replaced with Zoom sessions with students. But, not only is the teaching format new, all of our programs are new!!

               

The state of Utah has revamped their science curriculum standards and so have we! This summer our educators, namely: Alyssa, Nathan and Carter, studied the curriculum requirements and created totally new presentations. They did an excellent job. Different grades received different updates according to the connected curriculum but some of the updates include: greater detail on the structure and functions of plants, conversations on energy and matter, and more! Each presentation also has a more streamlined presentation which better facilitates kids’ retention of the material. And do not get me started on the new videos! They are so interesting and helpful for us visual learners. Programs are still for kids ranging from kindergarten to fifth grade. We also create some new "bio-cards" to go with each of these new programs.



We had a really successful educator training this summer where we revised and practiced every single presentation in preparation for the new school year. It was so nice to have all of the educators all together for the first time since the pandemic back in the museum. Everyone shared great comments about teaching skills and ways to better explain tougher material. We also were able to find efficient ways to make the newer, more difficult material understandable for kids. It was a really helpful day for everyone. 


Sign up for a school program


Check out our new online programs:


We also have brand new FHE programs via Zoom on Mondays! Presently we are totally booked for the next 6 weeks. These programs are a lot more interactive and adaptable to the ages of the participants creating a better experience for museum guests and making FHE more fun! We would love to see you there! 


Sign up for FHE


Overall, the museum and all of its educators have been working hard to try and create the best learning environment we can for our guests and students. We care very much about you all! The museum is now open for limited hours so we will see you soon to answer your questions and continue learning together. 


Sarah Robinson, museum educator


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