Thinkery (formerly the Austin Children's Museum) is a
children's museum
Children's museums are institutions that provide exhibits and programs to stimulate informal learning experiences for children. In contrast with traditional museums that typically have a hands-off policy regarding exhibits, children's museums feat ...
in
Austin, Texas
Austin is the capital city of the U.S. state of Texas, as well as the county seat, seat and largest city of Travis County, Texas, Travis County, with portions extending into Hays County, Texas, Hays and Williamson County, Texas, Williamson co ...
.
History
The museum was founded in 1983 without a permanent location, providing traveling exhibits in public places such as malls, parks and libraries.
In 1987, a storefront on Fifth Street became the Austin Children's Museum's first established location.
In 1997, a fundraising campaign, including a million-dollar donation by
Michael and Susan Dell, helped the museum move to a larger space at Colorado and Second Street.
The downtown location closed on September 7, 2013, with the new Thinkery location opening December 7 at the Meredith Learning Lab — a 40,000-square-foot facility in the
Mueller Community
Mueller is a Planned Unit Development (PUD) in the east-central portion of the city of Austin, Texas, United States. The project is in the process of long-term development on the former site of the Robert Mueller Municipal Airport, which was cl ...
.
In 2015, nearly 500,000 visitors came to Thinkery.
Overview
Thinkery was designed to meet the demand of the greater Austin region and its families. Its mission is to provide learning experiences for children and their families in Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Math (
STEAM
Steam is a substance containing water in the gas phase, and sometimes also an aerosol of liquid water droplets, or air. This may occur due to evaporation or due to boiling, where heat is applied until water reaches the enthalpy of vaporization ...
) subjects.
Recognition
* Thinkery was one of 33 organizations selected to participate in Cognizant’s Making the Future grant program. Thinkery established its Spark Club program as a result of this grant.
* In 2014, Thinkery was one of three organizations in Texas designated as a host site for Maker Corps. Part of the Maker Education Initiative, Thinkery was selected to host a resident Maker and engage local youth in
STEAM learning
STEAM fields are the areas of science, technology, engineering, the arts, and mathematics. STEAM is designed to integrate STEM subjects with arts subjects into various relevant education disciplines. These programs aim to teach students innovatio ...
through making-oriented projects.
* The Smithsonian Latino Center selected Thinkery as a host site for their Young Ambassadors Program — a nationally recognized program for graduating high school seniors.
* Thinkery was the first children’s museum selected to participate in Portal to the Public — a National Science Foundation funded program to increase interactions between volunteer scientists and the public.
* Thinkery was chosen as a local site for the City of Austin’s Google Fiber Community Connections program.
References
{{Reflist
External links
Thinkery websiteAustin Children's Museum website
at Archive.org
The Internet Archive is an American digital library with the stated mission of "universal access to all knowledge". It provides free public access to collections of digitized materials, including websites, software applications/games, music, ...
Children's museums in Texas
Museums in Austin, Texas