Children's Museum of the Lowcountry
STEM
Established in 1995 and opened in 2003, the Children’s Museum of the Lowcountry is a nonprofit organization whose mission is to create innovative learning experiences in our museum and throughout our community that equip and inspire all children to become creative problem solvers.
At the Children's Museum of the Lowcountry, we believe in the power of hands-on, experiential learning to ignite curiosity and foster creativity in students. Our approach to connecting with schools and students is rooted in the philosophy that learning should be both engaging and meaningful. We integrate arts with STEM concepts to create dynamic, multidisciplinary lessons that cater to diverse learning styles. Through partnerships with schools, such as our work with Engaging Creative Minds, we bring these lessons directly into classrooms, creating an interactive environment where students can explore new ideas, build critical skills, and develop emotional intelligence. Our goal is to inspire a lifelong love of learning by making education fun, accessible, and relevant to students' everyday lives. The Children's Museum of the Lowcountry has a long-standing partnership with Engaging Creative Minds, where we have provided STEM-based and Social Emotional Learning (SEL) lessons tailored to meet the needs of students from Pre-K to 5th grade.
While each ELE is carefully designed to be aligned with state standards and is customized to your school’s unique objectives, these are just a few examples of the transformative potential that our instructor can craft around your learning targets.
Examples of ELEs:
*STEM Example: Students learn measurement concepts through hands-on activities that foster critical thinking and problem-solving skills.
*Social Emotional Learning Example: Students engage in an interactive lesson that helps them to identify and manage different emotions, equipping them with valuable self-awareness and emotional regulation techniques.
Digicat
Paige Hetherington
Digicat
Paige Hetherington
Paige Hetherington L.Ac graduated from The Iron Yard with a focus in Java Engineering. An inspiration to dissolve stereotypes around computer programming led her to create coding courses that encourage children to explore tech. Learning is a discovery of coding and software applications coupled with creativity.
In DigiCat's ELEs, students use Google Sites to create their own customized webpage or website with multiple pages. Students use Google Sites to create their own customized webpage or website with multiple pages. Google Sites is a free, user-friendly drag and drop program that allows for adding text, headings, images, videos, menus, buttons, maps, and forms along with styling options. Students get to design the layout, infuse the website with their specific curriculum information, and personalize it with creative style. Once completed, the website can be published to live eternally online. Proficiency in using Google Sites empowers students with the ability to create more web pages for future school projects or their own ventures.
E-STEAM: Entrepreneurship STEAM program by Dave Smith
Implemented by Nick Rindge
E-STEAM: Entrepreneurship STEAM program by Dave Smith
Implemented by Nick Rindge
Nick Rindge is a Charleston native and lifelong educator who will be providing instruction on behalf of E-Steam in lowcountry schools.
We build businesses with groups of students to make what they are learning in school relevant in a real world context. We can work with nearly any standard. However, many teachers gravitate toward us to work with certain standards. A popular mathematics-based program has students apply their knowledge of measurement and making conversions within the customary measures of weight and volume through creating a recipe based product, like fragrant salt scrub or hot cocoa mix. Another popular content area is simple machines, where students learn about simple machines and then use that knowledge to create handmade toys that they will sell in a classroom toy store. A third popular program is a force and motion program, where students learn about Newton's Laws of Motion and then the students use that knowledge to build plastic straw rockets that fly up to 200 feet! Students measure and graph their launches and in upper grades can use the data to calculate miles per hour from feet per second, which they use to market and sell their rockets.
In addition to the main standard, students will also use persuasive writing through sales flyers to promote sales of their products and use design skills to brand their business by developing a company name and logo.
Rebecca Antill
Horticulture & Culinary
Rebecca Antill
Horticulture & Culinary
Rebecca Antill has provided food-based programming to libraries and community organizations for over twenty years. In 2023, Rebecca earned a Culinary Arts certification and a Baking & Pastry certification at the Culinary Institute of Charleston to refine her knowledge of cooking and nutrition. She works as part-time Adjunct Faculty for the Culinary Institute where she teaches Baking & Pastry Continuing Education courses. Rebecca offers private classes for all ages around the Lowcountry, and volunteers as a chef instructor for the local food bank. She enjoys providing public-facing cooking programs for schools, libraries, and community groups, along with training for library staff and other nonprofit organizations!
Rebecca was raised on a dairy farm in northeast Ohio, where her family grew most of their food. From a young age, Rebecca has been involved in all facets of growing, processing, and preserving food. She is passionate about connecting people with how food gets to their plate and equipping them with the skills to eat good, affordable, and healthy meals. Not only is cooking a relevant experience, but it enables learning other concepts like measuring, fractions, chemistry, biology, the art of plating, and so much more!
While each ELE is carefully designed to be aligned with state standards and is customized to your school’s unique objectives, these are just a few examples of the transformative potential that our instructor can craft around your learning targets.
Example of ELEs:
*Cooking with Fractions: Students learn about fractions, decimals, estimating, comparing, and measuring by making biscuits, poke bowls, pizza, and energy bites. Worksheets are provided for comparing fractions, learning about liquid and dry measurements, recipe costs with decimals, and estimating sizes. Students work individually and in small groups to make their recipes.
*How Far is the Fruit?: Students learn about distance, geography, colors, and map reading by tracking where certain fruits come from while making a variety of fruit-based dishes such as fruit salad, baked oatmeal, salsa, and more.
*What's That Taste?: Students learn about spices and herbs, how they interact, how they are grown and harvested, their benefits and properties, and what a flavor profile is. Dishes are prepared that showcase specific ingredients such as garlic, cinnamon, or chili peppers, and plated with attention to textures, colors, and shapes.
Spark Learning
Darina DeBenedictis
Spark Learning
Darina DeBenedictis
Darina DeBenedictis has many years of experience creating and teaching her STEAM based curriculum at many schools, teaching all ages. She has worked at multiple aquariums, worked as a marine geologist aboard research vessels, and has experience working on various biological research projects. Darina is also an artist and worked as a preschool art teacher. She is the owner of a clay jewelry small business, Adorned, where she sells her jewelry and hosts workshops for adults and children of all ages. She also dabbles in plenty of other art forms, such as weaving, painting, drawing, photography, and more!
Darina’s experiences as a scientist, an artist, and a teacher have made her equipped to be a very inquisitive, passionate, and adaptable educator. She loves sharing her passions and experiences with the children (K-2) she teaches.