The Ohio Valley Museum of Discovery strives to provide a hub for play-based science, technology, engineering, art, and math (STEAM) learning experiences in rural southeastern Ohio. The museum works to develop meaningful connections between preK–12 schools, community nonprofit organizations, local STEAM professionals, and university outreach programs.

The Ohio Valley Museum of Discovery (OVMoD) strives to provide a hub for play-based science, technology, engineering, art, and math STEAM learning experiences in rural southeastern Ohio, and create reciprocal, collaborative relationships that bridge the gap between formal and informal learning environments. The museum works to develop meaningful connections between preK–12 schools, community nonprofit organizations, local STEAM professionals, and university outreach programs.

Founded in 2006 as a museum without walls, OVMoD opened a physical location in a small shopping mall in 2011. The museum continually refreshes exhibits and offers frequent live programming to accompany exhibit content. Between 50 and 75 visitors attend the museum each day, although special events and collaborations at the museum have attracted hundreds of visitors at a time. At present, OVMoD has secured a new standalone location that will allow the museum to continue building upon its reputation as a transformative hub for exploratory, hands-on education.

Although outsiders have historically been associated with forced change and criticism of rural residents’ current practices, OVMoD’s model, discussed in this article, may help overcome long-standing barriers to community–school–university collaborations in rural settings. Capitalizing on the close connections within rural communities is a key part of developing an interconnected STEAM learning ecosystem within those areas, along with reciprocal collaborative partnerships founded on mutual respect and trust.

Life in Rural Ohio

The museum was formed in 2006 as a result of grassroots community discussions about providing hands-on STEAM learning experiences for children, youth, and families in southeastern Ohio, near the rolling foothills of the Appalachian Mountains. Residents have access to natural beauty and a thriving local food movement, an active arts scene, and environmental organizations focused on sustainable energy initiatives. Additionally, acres of deciduous forests, over 20 mi. (32 km) of connected bike paths, and several state parks provide abundant outdoor informal learning opportunities. Universities in the region offer further educational opportunities and employ a large number of STEAM professionals.

However, economic hardships accompany the region’s natural beauty and educational resources. More than 30% of the region’s children experience food insecurity and more than 25% of its residents live below the poverty line (Larrick 2016; Pollard and Jacobsen 2014). A focus on science education and access to informal STEAM learning experiences in rural settings is often limited (Avery 2013; Hartman and Hines-Bergmeier 2015). Only 12% of children’s museums are located in rural areas (Association of Children’s Museums 2015). By nature, rural communities are closely connected. Collaborative partnerships within rural settings often develop organically (i.e., they are not forced).

Before the inception of OVMoD, the nearest STEAM-focused museum was more than 70 mi. (113 km) away, a distance that was both cost- and time-prohibitive for many families (Hartman and Hines-Bergmeier 2015). These economic hardships, coupled with specific characteristics of rural communities (e.g., outsider distrust) and community–university power dynamics, created the need for a community entity such as OVMoD to serve as an interconnected hub for STEAM learning. See Figure 1 for a visual depiction of a vibrant STEAM learning ecosystem in a rural setting.

Figure 1

A Vibrant Learning Ecosystem

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Learning Through Play

The benefits of play include healthy brain development, creativity, and conflict resolution skills, as well as increased physical activity and emotional well-being (Ginsburg 2007). Play-based learning with a STEAM focus is central to OVMoD’s educational mission. The museum even had a conference presentation about its commitment to playful, STEAM-based learning. But research reveals that time allotted for play-based learning in American schools is decreasing, despite empirical data that suggest reduction in playtime is detrimental to students (Pellegrini and Bohn 2005).

Informal learning environments such as museums, libraries, and makerspaces provide playful spaces where students create, connect, and explore. The success of informal learning environments may be directly related to the fact that learning occurs away from the “constraints of standards-based testing and statewide curriculums” (Denson et al. 2015, p. 14), suggesting that open-ended educational experiences provide constructive learning opportunities.

OVMoD was founded on the principles of constructionism and constructivism (Sheridan et al. 2014), philosophies that require active participation by the learner to engage with both materials and concepts. Parents, university professors, and preK–12 educators responsible for creating the museum recognize the value of learning through play. Visitors to the museum are encouraged to explore, move about the space, interact with hands-on exhibits, and create something new to better understand the world around them.

Facilitating a Vibrant STEAM Learning Ecosystem

Develop Successful School Partnerships

To achieve desired learning goals, an informal learning entity should form partnerships with preK–12 educators (Russell, Knutson, and Crowley 2013). Consequently, bridging formal–informal learning environments is at the forefront of OVMoD’s educational goals; developing collaborative partnerships with area teachers is a foundational priority.

In effective preK–12 partnerships, the classroom teacher is willing to plan with OVMoD education staff and is engaged during programming, and the partnership remains sustainable over time. Several practices are used to sustain collaborative partnerships between OVMoD and preK–12 schools. To mitigate the effects of outsider distrust, the museum attends community events, donates staff time and materials during informal STEM nights hosted by schools, and frequently sends information about museum events via students’ weekly home–school communication folders. Many schools cannot afford busing to OVMoD’s physical site, so the museum frequently goes on the road with a selection of traveling exhibits, such as Brain Teasers & Logic Launchers, Messy Science, and The Art of Construction & Experimentation. Additionally, the museum seeks grant funding to help offset travel and admission fees.

Of utmost importance is the communication between OVMoD’s educators and teachers that occurs before, during, and after educational programming. Before educational programming, museum educators establish close ties with teachers to determine their curricular, standards-based goals; understand specific needs of students with disabilities; and determine students’ prior knowledge about a particular topic. Thus, each program delivered at OVMoD is specifically tailored to a teacher’s or school’s educational needs and goals.

During educational programming, museum educators invite teachers to be actively and playfully engaged in all parts of the learning activities. After the programming, museum educators provide teachers with materials (i.e., children’s literature suggestions, online learning modules) that extend learning in the teacher’s classroom and communicate with school-based partners to improve upon future collaborations, asking:

• Do both partners feel that learning objectives were met?
• What components of the programming were most effective?
• What could OVMoD do to improve future experiences?
• Does the preK–12 partner want to collaborate with OVMoD again?

Because OVMoD’s STEAM learning experiences are designed to be part of a series of well-developed and ongoing interactions between teachers and museum educators, the last question is particularly important. In a rural setting, this type of sustained interaction is essential to developing mutual respect and trust. As a future goal, OVMoD wants to continue developing collaborative partnerships by embracing a coteaching model with area teachers. The coteaching model will emphasize coplanning to ensure that teachers’ curricular goals will be met by OVMoD’s programming and flexible content delivery, which may include shared museum–teacher instruction, assisted instruction (e.g., museum educator leads, teacher assists), or museum-led instruction with teacher observation. Doing so will foster additional connections across the formal–informal divide. Through these collaborative practices, regional preK–12 educators are able to view OVMoD as a true partner in STEAM learning initiatives.

Build Reciprocal Collaborations

A key component of OVMoD’s museum model is its dedication to collaboration with nonprofit organizations and other educational entities in the region. Because funding in rural communities is often limited, OVMoD collaborates with local partners to maximize resources, time, and talent. These partnerships also help position the museum as an embedded community partner, lessening the impact of outsider distrust in rural settings.

For OVMoD, effective reciprocal partnerships are founded on several characteristics, including an understanding of and commitment to a shared vision. To varying degrees, a willingness to share resources is also necessary in a rural, underserved region. OVMoD often provides a location, staffing, or materials for both museum and general community events, while the partner contributes resources such as volunteers or supplies. Finally, OVMoD pursues multiple experiences with collaborators, so that the benefits to the museum and its collaborators have an opportunity to fully develop. For example, for several years, the museum partnered with local libraries to provide a series of summer programming events. Through cohosting multiple events, OVMoD and the libraries developed trust and a shared vision for the events’ outcomes and goals (i.e., level of participant engagement and attendance).

Building reciprocal collaborations with school-based partners meets the museum’s mission of play-based, open-ended exploration for children as well as teachers’ curricular requirements. The museum has several ongoing partnerships with local preschools and K–12 teachers. The museum also collaborates with schools on learning events that occur outside of traditional school hours.