Science Makers 2010

Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday weekend was pretty busy at the Saint Louis Science Center. The School and Community Partnerships department had two major events celebrating science, engineering, technology, and math (STEM) professionals and education.

Science Makers began on Friday, kicking off the action packed weekend. Science Makers is funded by a National Science Foundation grant and came out of the amazing work being done by the History Makers project. Science Makers is an oral history project that recognizes African American scientists who have made significant contributions to their field. The Saint Louis Science Center, and the YES program, were fortunate enough to welcome four such physicists as special guests to speak with local middle and high school students. On Friday, schools from the St. Louis metro area interviewed our guests, Dr. Diggs, Dr. Gates, Dr. Gladney, and Dr. White about their career paths and what interests them most about their field. Other students also networked with local scientists, representing many STEM organizations and fields here in the St. Louis area. Teachers and students alike had been preparing for this event through hands on classroom activities and viewing the Science Makers interview clips from the project's Tool Kit. At the closing ceremony students commented that they weren't sure what to expect, thinking that it might have been boring. They said they had changed their mind after meeting with the scientists who "turned out to be pretty cool actually." (Compton Drew) 

 For more information about how you can be involved with Science Makers please visit here.