In partnership with industrial firms, The Impression 5 Science Museum will organize and operate a program to encourage disadvantaged minority children and their families to develop an interest in and knowledge of science. This will involve a variety of activities -- science clubs, field trips, exhibitions -- designed to reach children and parents in settings familiar to them. Mini-museums will be set up in appropriate community centers. A bus modified to look like a space shuttle will be used to bring science activities to fairs, neighborhood settings, and other locations, and to transport children to other points of interest, including the main museum. The program will be carried out in close cooperation with the schools, but outside of school hours. Because the Lansing schools already bring all fourth graders to the museum, inservice programs for those teachers will be arranged by the museum utilizing industry and university scientists. Industrial support will be both financial and through its people -- as participants in planning and presenting science activities for children and teachers and as role models. Cost sharing by industry and the museum will equal 63% of the NSF funding.
