Science 'Hits The Streets' In The Perot Museum Tech Truck
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DALLAS (KRLD) - Science is coming soon to a neighborhood near you! The Perot Museum of Nature and Science unveiled its Tech Truck Thursday, designed to take science, technology, engineering, art and math out to North Texas kids.
"We know families, for whatever reason, can't always come to museums," says Perot CEO Colleen Walker. "There are still audiences we want and if they can't come to us then we want to go to them."
The Tech Truck was so named because of the Perot's mission to get kids to tinker, engineer, create, and hack. Curriculum can consist of no technology, low technology, or high technology. Kids can do everything from creating rubber stamps to building circuits to 3-D printing.
Students from Village Tech Schools were on hand for the ceremonial ribbon cutting and were the first to jump on board and experiment. "I want to be an engineer," explained 7th grader Peter VanAusdale. "I think the 3D printer is probably the coolest thing in there."
Village Tech superintendent David Williams says public education has lost its way recently, and a chance for kids to get hands-on learning like this will only create future opportunities for them. "Kids may not remember taking a test, but they'll always remember building a tiny house for the homeless, or making connections for internships. When we give kids tools to create, it gives them a way to contribute in the future."
The truck was made possible by a $1.13 million grant from Dell. It will run 300 days out of the year and reach about 20,000 people. A second Tech Truck looks to debut next year.
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