Flint Elementary Students Receiving STEM Education from Sloan Museum and Longway Planetarium through $10,000 Grant from Child Welfare Society of Flint

Flint, MI - Sloan Museum of Discovery and 

Longway Planetarium will be completing their STEM programming for Early Childhood and elementary school students for the 2022-2023 school year this month, made possible in part by a $10,000 grant from the Child Welfare Society of Flint, Inc. (CWSF). The grant was awarded in 2022 to provide high-quality, customized educational programming in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) for Flint students in the Early Childhood programs and elementary schools.

"This generous grant from the Child Welfare Society of Flint was crucial for us in providing hands-on STEM programming to our youngest learners," stated Lacey Childers, Early Education Coordinator at Sloan and Longway. "Among other activities, we were able to bring interactive programming to Hamady Elementary School in Flint fourteen different times throughout this past school year," Childers added.

Some examples of STEM programs made possible by the CWSF grant included building “hog houses” based on the story of The Three Little Pigs where students were able to design, plan, and build houses strong enough to withstand the force of wind. Hamady students also engaged in a lesson related to forces in motion and gravity where they were allowed to build and design their own chassis that correlated with the book Sheep in a Jeep.

Other programming made possible by the CWSF grant included monthly outreach sessions in multiple classrooms, planetarium field trips, and Family STEM Nights focusing on the 2-generational approach to learning. The STEM activities reinforced the school curriculum of at-risk students and encouraged them to explore future careers in STEM fields.

The Education department at Sloan Museum and Longway Planetarium provides hands-on STEM and Social Studies programming, workshops and camps to over 70,000 K-12 students annually within the two buildings, as well as throughout Genesee County Schools and libraries. Sloan Museum of Discovery is a hands-on science and history museum that was completely renovated and expanded in 2022. Longway Planetarium is Michigan's largest and most technologically-advanced planetarium offering full-dome shows and live, educational astronomy programming.

Click here to see an interview with Lacey Childers about how the grant from CWSF helped provide STEM education to young learners.
About Sloan Museum of Discovery & Longway Planetarium
Sloan Museum of Discovery and Longway Planetarium are overseen by the non-profit Flint Institute of Science and History (F.I.S.H.) with a shared mission to engage communities on a learning journey in history and science. Located within the Flint Cultural Center Campus in Flint, Michigan, Sloan Museum of Discovery opened in July, 2022, with four primary hands-on learning galleries and one exhibition hall for special traveling exhibits. The original Sloan Museum opened in 1966 as the Sloan Panorama of Transportation, named after long-time General Motors president, chairman and CEO Alfred P. Sloan. The new Sloan Museum of Discovery is nearly twice the size at 107,000 square feet and completely re-built into a re-imagined world-class, hands-on science and history museum. Longway Planetarium, named for Robert T. Longway, a community leader and one of the men responsible for the development of the Flint Cultural Center, opened in 1958 and was totally renovated in 2015. Additional upgrades to Digistar 7 projection system were made in 2021. It remains the largest planetarium in Michigan. Classes on the solar system and general science are offered to school groups and the general public. Both institutions are supported in part by the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation and Michigan Arts and Culture Council (MACC). Educational programs are supported, in part, by the Genesee County Arts Education and Cultural Enrichment Millage. Learn more at SloanLongway.org.

About The Child Welfare Society of Flint
Since 1915, the Child Welfare Society of Flint has been quietly helping the children and youth of Genesee County. Through the years, thousands of children were lovingly cared for at Cedar Street Children's Center. In the spring of 2013, CWS gifted the Cedar Street Children’s Center building and surrounding grounds to the Shelter of Flint. The Child Welfare Society of Flint is now a private foundation that operates to offer grants to organizations that assist families and children with educational, health and social needs. As a private foundation, CWS provides grants for programs and services that benefit children and youth in Genesee County. To learn more, go to