PB Petroleum Museum launches winter break STEAM programming - KOSA

PB Petroleum Museum launches winter break STEAM programming

MIDLAND, Texas (KOSA) - This year, the Permian Basin Petroleum Museum launched winter break programs for kids interested in the STEM field.

When you hear about a snowball catapult, your first thought might not be science, but that’s the point of program at the STEAM Education Center: To get kids excited about science in unique ways at an early age.

STEM stands for science, technology, engineering and mathematics. At the museum, they add an A for art and call it STEAM, according to Mara Bland, the associate director of the museum.

“We hope to just spark that interest and that they can see that they can do things, that there’s ways that they can learn about different things and different manners than what they typically do at school and that they can carry that forward,” Bland said.

On Friday, kids built a snowball catapult and a spinning peppermint illusion. That puts glitter, markers and building all in the same category.

“So we just want to provide a safe space for kids to come and test the limits of their own creativity,” Bland said. “While learning that they can do things beyond what they thought.”

That’s what 10-year-olds Abigail Villavicencio and Jacqueline Nikodym found Friday.

“You get to like, pick what materials you use to make whatever you’re engineering. The sleigh was really fun,” Nikodym said.

Villavicencio agreed.

“Yeah, I agree, we got to work together on it and we like working together on our stuff,” Villavicencio said.

The program was designed to offer working parents an option for their first through sixth grade children to learn over break.

Volunteer Grayson McCurry remembers what he learned from similar STEM programs as a younger student. He wants to study information technology.

“It shows you that you can be creative in most situations and you don’t always have to stick to a set plan,” McCurry said.

Two sessions are offered per day with a range of options to participate that cost anywhere between $30 to $180. The programs are sponsored by Ovintiv.

Next week’s program is set for Jan. 3-5 and will focus more on chemistry. Registration for next week’s Winter WonderLAB will be open until 11:55 p.m. Saturday.

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