MEDIA ALERT
Contact:
Lynda LeVan, 423-648-6043, lhl@cdmfun.org
Director of External Affairs
1st and 2nd Graders Apply Classroom Knowledge to Real Life Experience at Creative Discovery Museum
WHAT:
A visit to Creative Discovery Museum will encourage young children to apply skills and knowledge gained in the classroom while participating in the Kids Like You, Kids Like Me School Enrichment Program. Through this program, Siskin Children's Institute and Creative Discovery Museum staff help provide educational experiences and school activities designed to promote acceptance, inclusion, and accommodations within the school environment. A field trip to the Museum’s Kids Like You, Kids Like Me exhibit further emphasizes the lessons learned through hands-on simulation.
Each school was given a step-by-step disability awareness curriculum that can be aligned easily with the Tennessee state standards to address disability issues throughout the year. The disability awareness curriculum helps teachers deepen their students’ understanding of disabilities and encourages a positive school culture of acceptance. Students participating in the School Enrichment Program will be given a pre- and post-survey to measure the impact that the disability awareness components of the curriculum had on their thoughts, attitudes, and understanding of disability concepts and issues.
WHEN:
Friday, November 5, 2010; 11:30 a.m.
WHERE:
Creative Discovery Museum, 321 Chestnut Street, Chattanooga, TN 37402
www.cdmfun.org
WHO:
South Pittsburg Elementary: 1st and 2nd grade inclusion classrooms
Kids Like You, Kids Like Me is a partnership between Creative Discovery Museum and Siskin Children's Institute. The exhibit and related programs are sponsored by Unum and Chattanooga Times Free Press.
WHY:
Children will be asked to apply what they’ve learned in the classroom to real-life simulations in the exhibit. Research supports that a multi-disciplinary approach is best in order to effectively educate children about disabilities and instill positive perceptions regarding interaction with individuals who have disabilities.
About Creative Discovery Museum
Creative Discovery Museum is open Mon-Sat: 10 a.m.-5 p.m., Sun: noon-5 p.m. Closed Wednesdays September - February. 321 Chestnut Street, Chattanooga, TN 37402. Creative Discovery Museum is recognized as one of the top children’s museums in the nation. It is a non-profit organization dedicated to educational enrichment for children age’s 4-months to 12-years-old through interactive, hands-on experiences that foster creative and critical thinking. Creative Discovery Museum focuses on a broad range of areas encompassed by Visual Arts, Performing Arts, Technology and the Sciences. In addition to its exhibits, Creative Discovery Museum provides local residents and visitors with special events, educational programming, teacher resources for the classroom, field trips, after school programming, early childhood education classes, artist residencies, camps, art lessons, science demonstrations, and a branch of the local library. Creative Discovery Museum is a funded agency of Allied Arts and Tennessee Arts Commission and the Institute of Museum and Library Services.
# # #