Gillespie Museum Hosts Annual STEAM Festival
As part of its monthly Science Saturday series, the Gillespie Museum hosted the museum’s annual STEAM Festival on March 22.
The STEAM Festival began in 2023 and has quickly become one of the museum’s most anticipated events of the year. STEAM stands for Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Math, and is an interdisciplinary approach to learning that helps students develop inquiry and critical thinking skills.
The outreach event featured STEAM-themed activities and demos by Stetson student organizations. Ten student organizations volunteered their time on a Saturday morning to host around 200 community members at the museum, the Rinker Environmental Learning Center, and the Physics Lab in Sage Hall.
Activities included “Frankenstein’s Hand,” a Physics Extravaganza, pollinator finger puppets and measuring how tall children were in relation to an American alligator — on a poster, as no American alligators attended the festival.
“Kids enjoy seeing young people, our Stetson students, demonstrating a love for learning,” said Kristen Mattson, director for the Gillespie Museum. “An interdisciplinary approach like STEAM helps children learn in a cross-curricular way and develop a variety of skills at once. The festival also gives Stetson students the chance to engage with the DeLand community in a meaningful way.”
About the Gillespie Museum
The Gillespie Museum opened on Stetson’s campus in 1958 with the donation of TB and Nellie Gillespie’s extensive rock and mineral collection. It is an Earth science museum that features a variety of geology, environmental science and natural history exhibits. The museum is surrounded by two acres of green space featuring native landscaping and a longleaf pine sandhill restoration project. The adjacent Rinker Environmental Learning Center classroom hosts a variety of field trips and educational programming put on by the museum, as well as featuring an environmental gallery called the “Nature Nook.”
Learn more about the museum’s exhibits and programming on the Gillespie Museum website.
