Igniting STEAM Learning for All Through Interactive Experiences

MOXI’s Innovation Workshop is open daily to all museum guests, offering everything from collaborative projects to engineering challenges

by Rachael Quiesel

MOXI, The Wolf Museum of Exploration + Innovation, was first incorporated in the 1990s as the Children’s Museum of Santa Barbara. It was the brainchild of many dedicated community leaders with Jill Levinson, Alixe Mattingly, and Nancy Sheldon spearheading the campaign to construct the sandcastle-shaped building. Groundbreaking didn’t occur until 2015 and its iconic, arched door opened in early 2017.

MOXI will celebrate its sixth anniversary this February and the museum has come a long way from a roving pop-up with no brick-and-mortar home to the fixture on State Street and top tourist attraction it is today.

The first and only museum of its kind in Santa Barbara, MOXI is working to help close the achievement gap in science, technology, engineering, arts, and math (STEAM) education. It supports local schools, nonprofits, and other aspects of the educational ecosystem by providing resources and programming for students, teachers, and families. It also trains informal science educators, providing a place for them to learn, share ideas, and collaborate. Contact with MOXI, whether virtual, at-home, in the classroom, or in-person, inspires kids to pursue STEAM careers and sparks a lifelong love of museum-going. I know it has for me.

Upon entering, I was greeted by a giant globe covered in rectangular screens. When I touched one, my hand left a glowing purple imprint. The museum is always bustling with kids who bound from exhibit to exhibit, tinkering, testing, and most of all –touching cool things. All of the museum’s exhibits are designed to educate the public through hands-on experiences.

With its soaring ceiling, the three-story building provides a visually stunning backdrop for the 17,000 square feet of multi-sensory exhibits. These are divided into six focus-areas: speed, light, forces, interactive media arts, technology, and sound. I must have been in the latter – as propped up on its side, lying along the floor, is a guitar big enough to be strummed by Paul Bunyan. Director of Marketing & Communications Angie Bertucci greeted me then gestured towards the giant instrument.

“My husband is a guitarist and whenever he comes in, he can’t help but tune it,” she said. Given that 15,000 students come through these doors in a normal year, it likely needs a lot of tuning.

Encouraging Exploration & Experimentation

In 1969, Frank Oppenheimer, particle physicist, dreamed up what became San Francisco’s renowned Exploratorium. Since then, interactive science museums have skyrocketed in popularity. Oppenheimer and his colleagues recognized the need for museums to engage the public in learning science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) concepts. This innovation transformed science museums from intimidating, hands-off, eyes-only experiences to laboratories where the public was encouraged to experiment.

Fifty years later, the need is still here. An updated analysis by the Bureau of Labor Statistics projects increasing growth for many STEM occupations in the U.S., particularly “epidemiologists, medical scientists, biochemists and biophysicists, and biological technicians, among others.” I would add climatologists, computer scientists, and all medical professionals to this list.

MOXI’s expertly designed exhibits and programming promotes the skills needed to succeed in STEAM, including creativity, critical thinking, problem solving, agency, and collaboration. As noted in the National Science Board’s Vision 2030 report, “K–12 STEM education and high achievement for all students plays a critical role in

CAMA’S 2022/2023 SEASON

104th Concert Season

International Series At The Granada Theatre

SEASON SPONSOR: SAGE PUBLISHING

MONDAY, FEBRUARY 13, 2023, 7:30PM

FILHARMONIE BRNO (OF THE CZECH REPUBLIC)

Dennis Russell Davies, Artistic Director & Chief Conductor Maki Namekawa, piano

All-Czech Program!

BOHUSLAV MARTINŮ: Sinfonietta “La Jolla,” H.328

LEOŠ JANÁČEK: Taras Bulba

ANTONÍN DVOŘÁK: Symphony No.6

For more than a half century, renowned American conductor Dennis Russell Davies has led many of the world’s finest orchestras and opera companies and is widely considered one of the most innovative and adventurous conductors in the classical music world. In 2018, Maestro Davies became the Artistic Director & Chief Conductor of the Filharmonie Brno, an orchestra with roots that go back to the 1870s, when composer Leoš Janáček endeavored to establish a Czech symphony orchestra in Brno (the traditional capital of Moravia), now the second largest city in the Czech Republic. Appropriately, Maestro Davies’s stimulating CAMA concert will feature an outstanding All‑Czech Program of works by Janáček, Dvořák, and Martinů

Sponsors: Edward S. DeLoreto • Lois S. Kroc • Shanbrom Family Foundation

Co-Sponsors: Anonymous • Bob Boghosian & Beth Gates-Warren