Danielle DeSisto reports for Bucks County Courier Times:
The interactive Environmental STEM Center offers exclusive exhibits for the public to learn about science and technology, from climate change to space exploration.
PALMYRA — Where can a person experience the vastness of space, the depth of the oceans, and the beauty of the world’s tallest mountains?
The answer is simple: Palmyra Cove Nature Park’s Environmental STEM Center.
The interactive 2,000-square-foot space offers exclusive exhibits for the public to learn about science and technology, from climate change to space exploration.
The upgraded center, which previously was home to the Environmental Discovery Center, opens to the public Monday. When officials realized exhibits had not been updated for 15 years, they determined it was time to bring new advancements in science and technology to Palmyra Cove.
“It’ll be a great learning experience for all students in Burlington County. I’m looking for this to become a destination,” said Burlington County Freeholder Director Kate Gibbs.
At the science, technology, engineering and mathematics center, visitors can now have a far more interactive learning experience than ever before available at Palmyra Cove. At the Magic Planet exhibit, for example, guests can view hundreds of digitally projected presentations on a variety of scientific topics on a huge spinning globe; get their hands dirty in the colorful TopoBox mechanical sandbox while learning about topography, geography, watershed and natural sciences; and take a virtual reality trip to the bottom of the ocean and swim with a friendly whale, to name a few.
“Students see this new center as fun, but there’s so much more; direct access to data from NASA and NOAA (National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration), the ability to compare their own observations to that taken from spacecraft hovering above Earth,” said John Moore, executive director of Palmyra Cove/Institute for Earth Observations. “And teachers appreciate authentic STEM education that addresses National Science Standards.”
