Chloe Doucette, Director of Education at the Museum of Idaho
Informal education is getting a boost as three separate companies donate grants to the Museum of Idaho for its new Wildlife Information, Learning and Discovery (WILD) Idaho educational program. The Department of Education has donated $4,070, Cross Charitable Trust has donated $10,000, and the Idaho National Laboratory (INL) has donated $500.
Director of Education at the Museum of Idaho Chloe Doucette developed the program with three pieces to it. “WILD at Home” is a subscription-based program that will distribute learning materials to kids at home. “WILD in the Classroom” provides educators with lesson plans and interactive materials about threatened wildlife in the area with little or no cost to them.
“And then the ‘WILD in the Museum’ will be a backpack program that kids can check out a backpack when they come into the museum and then they can use all the materials in there to kind of explore more hands-on even if the exhibit isn’t one that is super hands-on,” Doucette said. The grant provided by INL will go toward purchasing these backpacks.
Doucette came up with the idea for the program by looking at programs other museums were using and combining a couple of them.
“The subscription program was something that is kind of based on a couple of different companies that send out subscription programs to kids but I haven’t seen any that are super educationally place-based,” Doucette said. “There’s ones that are about exploring the world and stuff like that, but nothing that comes from a particular museum so I was excited to try that out.”
The WILD Idaho Education Program has not started yet, but it will be up and running soon.
Thanks to the new grants, a continuing education 2 credit course entitled “Bring Idaho Alive” is also provided for educators for free. The course begins on February 27 and space is limited to 12 participants. To sign up, please contact Chloe Doucette at education@museumofidaho.org or Alana Jensen at Alana.jensen@wastrenadvantage.com.
About the Museum of Idaho:
The Museum of Idaho is located at 200 N. Eastern Ave, Idaho Falls, and is dedicated to preserving both the natural and cultural history of Idaho and the Intermountain West. To learn more, contact Deborah M. Chessey, Director of Marketing at 208-522-1400 ext. 3012.
Source: Museum of Idaho Press Release