The Coleman Center for Families and Children is offering Petal children a chance to unleash their inner scientists, mathematicians and designers.
During the last couple of weeks, the center has hosted STEAM Discovery Labs, designed to get young children introduced to concepts in science, technology, engineering, arts and math.
“We really want to introduce these children at a very young age, so that they do have these speaking skills and the capacity to be really creative and to be successful in these careers for the future,” center director Dede Smith said. “We’re trying to teach them to go ahead and begin that scientific thinking, even though they’re very young, and critical thinking skills. They get really excited.”
During the course of the labs, children take part in activities such as manipulating magnets, investigating color mixing, discovering simple graphing and using blocks to practice pre-engineering skills.
“We taught them that scientists record their data, and every activity that we do, there’s some type of data that we’re looking at and collecting,” Smith said. “And (last) week, when the group came, one of the activities that they did was color mixing.
“So they would form a hypothesis at the beginning, and guess if they mix these colors what would happen. Then they tested their hypothesis, and in their little science journal they recorded their findings. And after doing that over and over, they started using those science terms, and using that language – it just naturally happens, that they begin to think more like a scientist.”
Classes and groups who are interested in taking part in the STEAM Discovery Labs can call the Coleman Center for Families and Children at (601) 584-4704 to schedule a free session.
“We’re excited,” Smith said. “A few weeks ago, we were able to purchase some resources for coding … and we’re planning on setting some sessions up for that as well.
“(The lab) is really more appropriate for ages 3 and up, although we do have some toys that are available to check out for that kind of thinking. We can adapt the activities and the lessons depending on those ages.”
The labs are made possible with the help of Sherry Sundeen from Mimi’s Playhouse and Missy Hamilton, the center’s readiness coordinator. Hamilton got the ball rolling last school year when she wrote and received a grant from the Petal Education Foundation to purchase STEAM resources.
“We started out with those resources that Missy got, and as the year went on, it got bigger and bigger,” Smith said. “We recognized that it was really important for us to introduce it to young children and to families, so that they could recognize the importance of it.
“So we were able to purchase some more materials from the Early Childhood Academy – we have a partnership with them – and we decided that we would set up a laboratory setting at the center. So it’s kind of like a dream we’ve had for a long time, and it just took us a long time to get here.”
