STEAM-fest Designed To Help Ignite Minds
Oskaloosa, Iowa – The annual fall event of Kidtoberfest that was held inside Penn Central Mall for the past 8 years, has morphed into a spring-time event, now called STEAM-fest.
In Iowa, the STEM initiative has taken hold, championed by Iowa Governor Terry Branstad and Lt. Gov. Kim Reynolds. STEM is an acronym for referring to the academic disciplines of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. In STEAM, the arts are added to the equation. Art and Design were added to the academic disciplines to help further reach and develop young minds.
On Saturday, STEAM-fest landed at the home of the ISU extension office in Oskaloosa, where Amy Brainard, County Youth Coordinator for ISU Extension in Mahaska County, said a new direction was needed. With the big push in education for STEM, “we decided to make that change”.
This event gave children the ability to see, touch and do many of the innovative things happening in the community, and were represented by 23 different booths. Attendees could see how Musco’s next generation LED lighting systems work, to 3D laser modeling, along with hands on activities. Children were the main priority of the 4 hour event.
Brainard said that the hope was to create more awareness of STEM and STEAM. “A lot of schools don’t have the funding to provide extra education in those areas, so we want to, through Extension work, be able to bring some outreach programs into the schools.”