Drawing on decades of combined experience in science education, our Educational Consulting team collaborates closely with schools or researchers to develop customized learning and discovery plans that are carefully tailored to your unique needs, abilities, and educational goals. Whether you’re looking for support in designing a single thematic unit, a semester-long course, or an entire K-12 science program, our expert team brings research-based pedagogical strategies and practical, hands-on resources to the table. We are also able to develop comprehensive professional development workshops, tackling topics like race and equity, via partnerships with the museum’s IDEAL Center.
Education
Consulting
- InspireCT
- Automata Kits
- Explore Engineering Kits
- Brains On
- Belonging Project
- Museums Advancing Racial Justice
Computational Thinking
InspireCT: Inspiring STEM Learning through Applied Computational Thinking is a strategic, multi-year initiative designed to expand access to and sustain equitable, high-quality computational thinking education. Computational thinking (CT) is defined as a set of practices used in computing to frame problems, create solutions, express ideas, and understand technology’s impact.
Automata Kits
For centuries, engineers and artisans have designed and constructed mechanical machines called automata — intricate devices that replicate the movements of humans, animals, and plants. Through the precise coordination of wheels, levers, and linkages, these mechanisms can simulate singing birds, cycling figures, and even ducks with flapping wings.
Beyond their technical sophistication, automata serve as powerful tools for narrative expression and creative storytelling. Our kits provide a structured approach to designing and building your own automaton at home and meet a variety of education standards.
Explore Engineering Kits
Presented by
Build skills and solve problems with engineering! Explore Engineering fosters skill-building in spatial reasoning, perseverance, innovation, collaboration, and problem-solving through hands-on materials and an easily scalable activity kit.
With the generous support of Flint Hills Resources, the Science Museum of Minnesota is excited to open applications for Explore Engineering 2026.
The goal of the program is to provide an easily accessible activity that encourages students of all backgrounds in greater Minnesota to see themselves in STEM, and more specifically in engineering.
The Explore Engineering program is designed for grades 3-5. The hands-on activities focus on scalable challenges that can be used for a day of programming or throughout the semester. This flexibility allows educators to infuse quality programming to fit their classroom’s needs.
Beyond their technical sophistication, automata serve as powerful tools for narrative expression and creative storytelling. Our kits provide a structured approach to designing and building your own automaton at home and meet a variety of education standards.
Engineer It: Get Moving!
Hands-on activities with materials sent to your school
Students will receive engineering activities and materials to complete challenges. The activities include written and video instructions that include specific challenges, skill-building modules, and open-ended extensions. The kits are packaged for each classroom and come with an accompanying teacher kit!
Educators from Minnesota District 196 can also apply for Experience Science field trips, with generous support by Flint Hills Resources.
Brains On
In 2024-25, the Science Museum of Minnesota’s Department of Evaluation and Research in Learning led the Brains On the Move research project to understand how a children’s science podcast can prompt joint media engagement and family learning conversations in a vehicle environment. The project was completed in collaboration with Brains On!, a science podcast for curious kids and adults that explores various scientific topics through engaging stories, interviews with experts, and listener-submitted questions.
Explore the results of the study, geared towards three different audiences: podcasters, parents, and researchers. We also led a webinar that provided an overview of the methodology along with all the exciting things we learned about how families engage with STEM podcasts.
Podcast design can spark engagement.
Find out what we learned about Brains On!’s design that enhanced family interactions and learning conversations.
Podcasts can help parents facilitate conversations.
Watch our webinar and read our tip sheet to learn how parents can support children’s podcast engagement in a vehicle environment.
Our research methods
Review our study instruments and check out our guide for carrying out video-based research in a vehicle environment.
This material is based upon work supported by the U.S. National Science Foundation under Grant No. 1907014 titled Brains On! the Move: STEM Podcasts as Facilitators of Automobile-Based Family Learning Experiences. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the U.S. National Science Foundation.
Belonging Project
Our evaluators led the Museums and Inclusion study to understand how visitors define belonging at science and natural history museums. These resources share key insights and guidance on how to start on your own journey of reflecting on belonging in museums.
If you work at a museum and want to reflect on belonging at your own institution:
Check out our article in Exhibition on belonging in science and natural history museums!
If you want to learn about a visitor-centered model of belonging from our past presentations.
If you are a researcher or evaluator and want to explore our photovoice method and interview protocol:
If you want more literature on belonging in museums and to see where we drew some of our knowledge and inspiration:
This material is based upon collaborative work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant #2005773, Museums and Inclusion. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.
Museums Advancing Racial Justice
Museums serve as vital community gathering places for conversation and exploration. As part of the Smithsonian Institution’s “Our Shared Future: Reckoning with our Racial Past” initiative, they partnered with the Science Museum of Minnesota to host Museums Advancing Racial Justice — a three-day convening in April 2024. The event brought together museum professionals from across the country committed to advancing racial justice.
Presented by: 
This work was a partnership between the Smithsonian Institution and the Science Museum of Minnesota through the “Our Shared Future: Reckoning with Our Racial Past” Initiative made possible by funding from the Bank of America.
Many museums and cultural organizations exist as intentional acts of racial justice, telling the stories of people and communities that have been resisting racial inequities throughout history. These institutions and the people who lead them, regardless of their size, notoriety or access to financial resources are essential caretakers, preventing important pieces of our racialized history across the United States from being forgotten. Museum professionals have also led many movements and coalitions in recent history who have pushed racial justice work forward within and beyond our museum institutions.
At this convening, we came together as a community of museum and cultural organization practitioners to learn from each other and take collective action to keep advancing racial justice work through our organizations.
Resources
- Event Overview
- Frequently Asked Questions
- Photos: Thank you to ZM Photography and Ruby Elizondo Photo for artfully capturing the energy of the event.
Workshop Recordings
The project was implemented with heavy contributions from groups of expert advisors nationwide: one group advising on the application process, another advising on content development. Additionally, this project had a dedicated group of evaluation professionals.
Titles are accurate to April 2024.
Project Leads
- Deborah Mack – Director, Our Shared Future: Reckoning with Our Racial Past – Smithsonian Institution
- Joanne Jones-Rizzi – Vice President, Science, Equity, and Education Division – Science Museum of Minnesota
- Travis Helms – Project Director, Our Shared Future: Reckoning with Our Racial Past – Smithsonian Institution
- Robby Callahan Schreiber – Director, Museum Access and Equity – Science Museum of Minnesota
- Kendra Eull – Executive Assistant, Science, Equity, and Education Division – Science Museum of Minnesota
- David Valentine – Program Manager, Museum Access of Equity – Science Museum of Minnesota
- Liz Hughes – Project Manager, Our Shared Future: Reckoning with Our Racial Past – Smithsonian Institution
Advisors
- Elisabeth Callihan – Application Advisor – Mississippi Museum of Art
- Jennifer Himmelreich – Application Advisor – Institute of Museum and Library Services
- Robert Luckett – Application Advisor – Margaret Walker Center, Jackson State University
- Ahmad Ward – Application Advisor – Historic Mitchelville Freedom Park
- Aletheia Wittman – Content Advisor – Museum Consultant
- Leslie Walker – Content Advisor – Smithsonian Institution
- nikhil trivedi – Content Advisor – Art Institute of Chicago
- Brenda Tindal – Content Advisor – Harvard Museums of Science and Culture
Contributors - Evaluation
- Pei Koay – Assistant Director, Research & Evaluation, Our Shared Future: Reckoning with Our Racial Past – Smithsonian Institution
- Evelyn Ronning – Research and Evaluation Associate – Science Museum of Minnesota
- Marjorie Bequette – Director of Research and Evaluation – Science Museum of Minnesota
