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Hagley Museum's annual STEM event gets new name, more dates

Hagley Museum and Library
Hagley Museum is changing up its annual Invention Convention. It’s now called STEMtastic Weekends.";

Hagley Museum’s annual Invention Convention is getting a reboot. It’s now called STEMtastic Weekends:

 

 

The popular annual event was always held on Martin Luther King Jr. Day weekend.

But this year, along with the name change, it’s expanding to three weekends and adding to the usual activities found at the Invention Convention.

“And this year it’s all about robotics and coding. So we have also invited local robotics teams to come and demonstrate their new games and robots they’re making for the upcoming competition season. And our mainstay activities are the Tinkering, where people can take apart old electronics and see how they work and creating an invention from recyclable materials,” said Leigh Ann Scholtz, STEM educator at Hagley Museum and Library.

She explains why they’re emphasizing robotics and coding.

 

“I’d say most, if not all, students should be learning coding as a basis - just to understand how the electronics that they use everyday work.”

 

Scholtz says there will be various interactive STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) activities and live demonstrations from local robotics teams.

Many are geared towards children, but she notes they're not limited to kids.

 

"The parents and even grandparents who might not be familiar with the topic - especially coding - it seems to be a little bit scary for some people, but people really can engage and interact with it in a way that brings everybody together and they’re all learning together,” Scholtz said.

Scholtz says STEM Robotics in the VEX Robotics League kick off STEMtastic Weekends this Saturday.  Others, including X-Squared Factor FTC and the FIRST Lego League, will be featured over the next two weekends of the expanded event.

Scholtz says there are seven opportunities to enjoy Hagley’s STEMtastic Weekends, starting this weekend. Information on those opportunities is available at the Hagley Museum websitee.

Kelli Steele has over 30 years of experience covering news in Delaware, Baltimore, Winchester, Virginia, Phoenix, Arizona and San Diego, California.