It all started with a rough cut screening of the film Dream Big, which sparked the idea to not just show the film but to have a “year of the engineer” with all forms of
programming centering around engineering. Discovery Place’s Year of the Engineer (YOE) initiative, which spanned the 2017-2018 school year, was launched to celebrate the ingenuity and creativity of engineers and to inspire youth to consider engineering and other STEM careers
to become the problem solvers of the future.
Through Year of the Engineer, winner of the GSCA 2018 Achievement Award for Best Educational Program, Discovery Place was committed to partnering with 250 STEM leaders to provide 2,500 experiences (hands-on programs, interactive exhibitions, special events and community outreach) to expose 250,000 guests to
the wonders of STEM.
The Program
Year of the Engineer launched on August 24, 2017, with the grand opening of the film Dream Big: Engineering Our World and a major permanent new exhibit and lab experience—Think It Up & Thinker Space—encompassing an entire level (5,000 square feet) of Discovery Place. Over the course of Year of the Engineer, Discovery Place added fresh content and new inspiring experiences that engaged guests of all ages and backgrounds.
Being able to present a whole package of events centered around one theme was powerful to the funding community. Discovery Place partnered with over 20 corporations, businesses, and professional groups to support the yearlong effort, during which the organizations provided financial support, creative intellectual capital, and their employees to create our yearlong event.
The YOE activities included:
Programing
- Opening of new permanent 5,000 sq foot Exhibition Think It Up and new Maker Lab Thinker Space to open and launch with the movie opening of Dream Big.
- 5,000-square-foot traveling exhibition da Vinci’s Inventions from Florence Italy
- Daily museum activities in 3 labs
- School classes
- Public main stage shows
- Cart demonstrations
- Weekly design challenges in Think It Up
- Monthly lab units
- 1st Saturday of each month “Engineer in Residence” workshops
- 2nd Saturday of the month “Engineer Take Over Days” where local companies and their engineers provided industry-specific experiences while showcasing the work being done in North Carolina
- 3rd Saturday of the month “Think It up Design Challenge” where families collaborated on large-scale, unique design challenges.
- Community pop-up engineering and maker programs in underserved communities.
Signature Events
- Charlotte Mini Maker Fair
- North Carolina Science Festival
- National Engineering Week
- Inaugural Tinkerfest Event Day
- HackathonCLT
- Science & Society Lecture Series
- Girls’ Day Out Events
- Night at the Museum for Scouts
- Monthly Engineering Challenges for Educators
- Women in STEM event
Measurement of Outcome
Discovery
Place surpassed its goals:
- Goal of 250 engineers, actual 426
- Goal of 2500 experiences, actual 2,816
- Goal of 250, 000 visitors, actual 268,000 visitors
YOE was a very successful endeavor that was sustained through the year, and several programs that were developed for the initiative will be kept and used in yearly
programming moving forward. The institution’s ability to have a singular message and align the bulk of the activities around the initiative was powerful and sent a large and clear message to the community. This initiative also allowed Discovery Place to engage with a number of companies and professional organizations they had never partnered with before.
It was also a great cross-departmental team experience. This initiative had a steering committee and a work group comprised of the following departments:
- Human Resources
- Volunteer Services
- Education
- Teacher Professional Development
- Floor Programming
- Labs, School Programing
- Early childhood
- Community
engagement - Exhibits
- Marketing
- Sales
- Development
- Operations
Lessons Learned
Discovery Place learned a number of valuable insights throughout the course of the
program that they will consider when planning a similar initiative:
- Be out at least a year in advance or
even possibly 1.5 years, depending on planning and budgeting season for the
actual program. - Working
with over 20 companies and organizations meant great collaboration, but they underestimated
the time it would take to handle all of the event logistics each week with all
the partners . - Look a couple of years out for the
synergy of films in progress, exhibitions, and major community needs around
which to build an initiative.
Download a summary of the Discovery Place Year of the Engineer program.
For more information about the program, contact Joanie Philipp, Discovery Place Chief Operating Officer, at joaniep@discoveryplace.org.