{"id":380,"date":"2018-04-13T16:38:59","date_gmt":"2018-04-13T20:38:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mblc.state.ma.us\/mblc_blog\/?p=380"},"modified":"2019-04-08T14:18:12","modified_gmt":"2019-04-08T18:18:12","slug":"the-age-of-enlightenment-in-bellingham","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mblc.state.ma.us\/mblc_blog\/2018\/04\/13\/the-age-of-enlightenment-in-bellingham\/","title":{"rendered":"The Age of Enlightenment in Bellingham"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Shelley Quezada, Consultant to the Underserved<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

For a number of m\"\"onths last year, residents of Bellingham were invited to participate in an array of programs for all ages that focused on environmental literacy including alternative energy\u00a0 recycling and water resources. From March through September 2017 the Bellingham library carried out a series called \u201cEnlighten Bellingham<\/em><\/strong><\/a>\u201d to engage community members in meaningful science and technology experiences. The Bellingham Public Library was one of three Massachusetts libraries chosen as a pilot library for a project funded with federal funds coordinated by the Maine State Library, the Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners and Cornerstones of Science, a Maine nonprofit. The goal was to create a field-tested, replicable science literacy method that would enable designated public libraries to become skilled STEM facilitators.<\/p>\n

\"\"Programs included information on upcyclying, using plastic bags to crochet, and the why and how of solar panels. \u00a0One of the most \u00a0exciting events was an Electric Car Show conducted with support from the New England Electric Auto Association<\/a>.\u00a0 Members of the audience engaged\u00a0 presenters by asking relevant\u00a0 questions and showing a real interest in how new technology\u00a0 might be of benefit in the future. \u00a0Later this year the library will host a second electric car show and invite partners who presented in last year\u2019s series on solar, water,\u00a0and recycling as part of a final day long open house.<\/p>\n

As part of this initiative the library \u00a0held a Build a Better World Science Fair<\/a> to conclude the popular summer reading program.\u00a0 They also subscribed to a program called Tinker Crates and Kiwi Crates.\u00a0<\/a> Each month the library receives \u00a0two \u00a0STEM kits \u00a0and uses them as the basis for programming that kids can \u00a0share with another person \u00a0and work through the challenge of creative problem solving.\u00a0 \u00a0The Kiwi Crate programs teach kids to \u201cthink big\u201d and act like creators and producers instead of just consumers.\u00a0 Thus kids gain confidence and don\u2019t assume there is only one \u201cright way\u201d to build with blocks, paint a picture or solve a problem.\u00a0 Bellingham \u00a0kids have made robots, kaleidoscopes, waterwheels, and a variety of other very cool STEM projects.\u00a0 Parents are thrilled that the library offers these kits and the goal of engaging the whole community in an enlightening<\/em> experience with science continues to be supported. For more information about these programs please contact library director, Bernadette Rivard. brivard@bellinghamma.org<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Shelley Quezada, Consultant to the Underserved For a number of months last year, residents of Bellingham were invited to participate in an array of programs for all ages that focused on environmental literacy including alternative energy\u00a0 recycling and water resources. From March through September 2017 the Bellingham library carried out a series called \u201cEnlighten […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[128,129,130,131],"class_list":["post-380","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-lsta","tag-bellingham","tag-lsta-grant","tag-project","tag-stem"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mblc.state.ma.us\/mblc_blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/380","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mblc.state.ma.us\/mblc_blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mblc.state.ma.us\/mblc_blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mblc.state.ma.us\/mblc_blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mblc.state.ma.us\/mblc_blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=380"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/mblc.state.ma.us\/mblc_blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/380\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":590,"href":"https:\/\/mblc.state.ma.us\/mblc_blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/380\/revisions\/590"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mblc.state.ma.us\/mblc_blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=380"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mblc.state.ma.us\/mblc_blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=380"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mblc.state.ma.us\/mblc_blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=380"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}