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Chain Reaction: Parkland Program Begins

KID Museum and Parkland Middle School kicked off their Invention Studio Program at KID Museum by creating a series of chain reactions. The new cohort of 7th and 8th graders from the Parkland Scholars Program worked with KID Museum educators to devise their own cause-and-effect design, bending pool noodles, setting up ramps and cup towers, and carefully balancing blocks and motors. The final link would release a lever holding a whipped-cream pie right into the face of KID Museum facilitator, Gabriel Mellan.

The Parkland students worked for three hours on their chain reaction designs, correcting and adjusting to get it right. There were five groups, and in the end, Gabriel got two pies in the face! The Parkland Invention Studio Program launched during the 2014-2015 school year, offering middle-school students the chance to create their own inventions over a series of visits to KID Museum, sparking an interest in STEM fields and a love of learning. Five 2015 Invention Studio “graduates” have returned this year as mentors for the new cohort.