Science Museum of Minnesota

Museum experiences:the Science Museum of Minnesota is committed to inspiring learning, informing policy and improving lives. It works to realize a world in which all people have the power to use Science to make lives better. The Museum's 34,000 m2 facility overlooking the Mississippi river in downtown saint paul welcomed 442,000 visitors last year but the Museum's impact is regional, national and international through its exhibit production and exhibit touring businesses, omnitheater films, school outreach and professional development services, and affiliation with the national informal Science education network. (continued on schedule o)in fy23, we counted 1,475,075 engagements with our general audience. In addition to those that occurred during visits, programs, or events at the Museum, where we know a great deal about who our audience is, the remainder occurred in contexts such as online audiences, traveling exhibit audiences or community outreach audiences where we do not have details about who our audience is, but are still delivering Science Museum produced stem content.for the Science Museum of Minnesota, the experience is essential to achieving the Museum's mission. The Museum strives to provide high-quality experiences both onsite and beyond the Museum's doors - online and at other museums.

Science:less visible to Museum visitors is the internationally recognized research being conducted every day by Science Museum of Minnesota scientists as part of the center for research and collections. Staff care for a collection of about 2 million objects and through their research learn about the world around us so that we can make informed decisions moving forward. Digitizing the Museum's collections is an institutional strategic priority. In fy23 we continued to digitize records and imaged objects through several projects including the wannagan creek and chiapas projects, neotoma project, and mpca cannon river project. (continued on schedule o)in addition to stewarding and digitizing our collections, Science Museum scientists are in the field and lab collecting and analyzing samples and objects that impact decisions to improve water quality, teach us about the world around us, and contribute to global knowledge. We share this knowledge by connecting with our peers at conferences and other site visits, mentoring students and early career scientists, via presentations, and through publications. These connections lead to new partnerships and collaborations, it furthers scientific knowledge, and helps with workforce development. Key projects include:1. Collecting and examining cretaceous leaves to build toward a new climate study that could extend Minnesota's climate data at least 90 million years further into the past.2. Adding to our existing fossil collections from both sides of the mass extinction event 66 million years ago. 3. Studying the invasive diatom didymosphenia in streams along the north shore of lake superior. 4. Understanding how harmful algal blooms form in relatively pristine ecosystems like the boundary waters and superior national forest. 5. Studying the impacts of rising salt levels in Minnesota lakes.6. The dakota collection project resulted in an assessment of the dakota collection, dozens of community visits, elevated awareness of the collection among dakota community members, policy development for object care, and a lengthy list of steps for continuing this work. 7. Documenting over 100,000 years of human habitation at the pedersen site. This project studies climate change and culture of an island in sw Minnesota. 8. Teaching the next generation of scientists at an archaeological field school with the university of Minnesota. The students surveyed boundaries of our st. croix watershed research station log cabin site and excavated an expanded area of pine needles site recovering late woodland materials and intact pit features that include paleo-subsistence samples (wood charcoal). 9. Updating the stone tools of Minnesota, a guide to lithic technology for Minnesota. 10. Inventory and digitization of ethnographic seed collection, following community interest and feedback from community conversations.

Stem equity & education:as one of the largest providers of informal Science education, the Science Museum ignites interest in Science and addresses the urgent and ongoing need to broaden participation and create an inclusive pathway to the stem workforce. The Science Museum of Minnesota provides a host of programs that address opportunity gaps in stem education and connect the dots from early childhood interest in stem to pursuing advanced education and careers. (continued on schedule o)in fy23, just over 44% of public school students who came on a field trip identified as black, indigenous, or people of color (bipoc), higher than the proportion of bipoc students in the state. Also, nearly 40% of public school students who attended a field trip were students who received free or reduced-lunch; this is higher than the statewide percentage of students who received free or reduced-lunch. The Science Museum provides a host of programs to help address opportunity gaps in stem education and connect the dots from a childhood interest in stem to pursuing advanced education and careers. We engage with young learners in various ways, and have a broad reach: school programming including: 1. A field trip to, or visit from, the Science Museum is more than a highlight for studentsit's a chance to spark a young learner's creativity and inspire kids to see the many ways that stem connects to their daily lives. Last fiscal year 67,111 students and chaperones participated. 2. Through outreach assemblies, 20,149 Science Museum educators present larger-than-life Science lessons to an entire grade level or school. Last fiscal year, we reached students and educators in 75 out of 87 Minnesota counties through at least one education program, including outreach assemblies. 3. The lending library is a collection of educational materials for teachers and other education professionals to check out and use to engage their students in a variety of scientific subject areas. 4,273 students and 96 educators engaged with materials from the lending library in 6 counties. Out-of-school programming:1. Last summer the Museum hosted 1,506 campers for summer camps program.overall, including the programs detailed above and others, there were 102,379 engagements with k-12 audiences.

Other program services include unallocated costs including communications and marketing, volunteers, and evaluation and other activities to support Museum members and visitors.