FY 09 earmark entitled, `to encourage children to go into science and technology though skills-based learning exhibits the science center of iowa's mission is to be the highest quality resource…

FY 09 earmark entitled, `to encourage children to go into science and technology though skills-based learning exhibits the science center of iowa's mission is to be the highest quality resource inspiring scientific exploration through interactive education, exhibits and programs. The science center of iowa (SCI) accomplishes this by engaging children, families and school groups in stem (science, technology, engineering and math) educational programming both on-site and through outreach efforts across the state of iowa. SCI has become one of the highest attended attractions in the state of iowa and serves close to 400,000 participants annually. Through SCI's interactive exhibits and inspirational experiences, SCI achieves its goals to increase comprehension of fundamental stem concepts, to increase interest in and awareness of stem information and careers, and to build inquiry skills. The science center of iowa first opened in 1970 in a 26,000 facility in DES moines, iowa. After outgrowing the beloved but restrictive building, in 2005 SCI opened a new 110,000 square foot learning center in downtown DES moines. The new facility includes six permanent exhibit areas and one for traveling exhibitions, a 50-foot dome star theater planetarium, a 216-seat dome imax theater, a I75-seat live performance theater, a wing with six learning lab classrooms for science educational programs and a 140STUDENT science-based preschool (one of the first museum schools in the country), a cafe, gift shop and outdoor program area. Even with a new facility, SCI faces the same challenge of museums and science centers worldwide which is to keep the overall visitor experience new and novel and unless addressed, over time visitors develop fatigue and disinterest with the feeling of `been there, done that. When the science center of iowa began planning for the new facility which opened in 2005, the planning team was committed to solving this dilemma knowing that if not addressed, IT would have significant implications on future attendance and engagement, and value to the community. After learning much from other science centers who made attempts at creating changes in exhibits, SCI set out to create a model to meaningfully change the participant experience using a less capital intensive process. Exhibit exploration is the cornerstone of the SCI experience for both public and school audiences. With high repeat attendance in both of these groups, regular change to the experience platforms (themed exhibit galleries) is essential to the ongoing in-depth engagement of audiences. This regular updating through exhibit change allows SCI to refresh, improve, and RE-theme its exhibit galleries. One of these six exhibits areas focuses on space and is called `why the sky? .