Science After School expands pilot program
A new after-school program offered through Mid-America Science Museum has now expanded to reach more students.
The new program, Science After School, will now include Kindergarten through eighth-grade students from Hot Springs School District as well as Lake Hamilton School District, a news release said.
“We are so pleased to be expanding Science After School to students and families living in the Lake Hamilton School District as well as those in the Hot Springs School District,” said Diane LaFollette, executive director of the museum. “We want this to be an after-school care program that everyone in the Hot Springs community can participate in and plan to continue our efforts to grow it in the years to come.”
The pilot program will begin Jan. 7 and will be offered Monday through Friday from 3:30-6 p.m. until the end of the school year. At the completion of the pilot, adjustments will be made to the program based on lessons learned and then Science After School will be made available to all students in the Hot Springs area for the 2019-20 academic year, the news release said.
“Initially, the pilot program for Science After
School started in conjunction with just the Hot Springs School District with the hopes of expanding it to other schools in the Garland County area,” Jim Miller, director of marketing, said in an email Thursday. “Fortunately, Lake Hamilton School District has agreed to also provide transportation from Lake Hamilton school to the museum for their students who register for Science After School and who are in grades K-8.”
This program is the first of its kind in Arkansas and is licensed by the Arkansas Department of Human Services.
“The licensing process that Mid-America Science Museum undertook approved the museum to provide after-school care for children in grades K-8 for Science After School,” Miller said. “Based on initial community feedback from the public, there has been a good deal of interest from students,” who are enrolled in seventh and eighth grades.
“This will allow Mid-America Science Museum the opportunity to not only increase the program’s attendance for the first year but it will also allow museum educators to fine-tune science programs and educational classes suitable for those older children,” he said.
Originally, 107 spots were set to open for the after-school program, but Miller said DHS has approved the museum to accept 111 students for the pilot.
In addition, Science After School will lead to the development of a future state-of-the-art,
3,000 square-foot outdoor playground located on the museum’s
21 wooded acres, which Miller said is a requirement by DHS for the museum to have in place by the end of 2019. It is still in the planning stages, he said.
“This isn’t going to be just kids sitting in a classroom, and it’s going to be more than just a place to play, children will have access to the entire museum as well as individualized programming that will instill principles of science learning,” Jeremy Mackey, director of education and interim director of Science After School at Mid-America Science Museum, said in the release.
Parents may download Science After School applications at http://www.midamericamuseum.org.
There is a $30 application fee for registration and currently no late registration fees applied for the first year of this program. Enrollment will be ongoing until all spaces are filled.
Parents may pay $10 a day or $50 a week for Science After School at Mid-America Science Museum. Call 501-767-3461 or email the museum at info@midamericamuseum.org for more information.