For the second year in a row, Discovery Cube Los Angeles hosted the Region North STEAM Fest for students in the LA Unified School District (LAUSD) to showcase their work in robotics, programming and other related fields.
The center started the festival to provide students with an opportunity to prepare projects that utilize their knowledge in STEAM – science, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics – that they could display to the community. More than 60 schools participated in the event, with their families coming along free of charge, while the local community was able to engage with the numerous exhibits.
More than 80 tents were set up to accommodate numerous demonstrations and engineering projects. For instance, a group of students constructed a bridge using small wooden sticks that people could walk on.
“We just wanted students to be able to showcase what they’re working on,” said Luis Almonte, Discovery Cube LA’s executive director. “When kids come, we have exhibits for them to learn, but a lot of times we don’t get to see what they’re doing after they learn. So this is an opportunity to have them come back and give to the community and show what they’ve learned throughout the year.”
This year, on top of having more STEAM-related exhibits from other participating organizations, Discovery Cube also showcased its new eco-conservation carousel exhibit – the first carousel in California to run on solar power. The center also currently has another exhibit, Barbie You Can Be Anything: The Experience, that is all about women in different fields and careers, including STEAM.
As one of the few science centers in the San Fernando Valley, Almonte stressed the importance for Discovery Cube to promote STEAM for both the general public and students. By showing off what the kids, and by extension their school, can do motivates parents to enroll their children in schools with robust STEAM programs. It also gives students a chance to see what their peers from other schools are capable of.
“I think it’s important for even the kids to see other people from the community come out and celebrate them,” Almonte said. “We’re doing things all throughout the year with the students, so coming to STEAM Fest is definitely a great activity and it’s great for everyone to come out and support them.”
To learn more about Discovery Cube, visit https://www.discoverycube.org/.