Science Center guests view a display from the Museum of Black Inventors

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Over the Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday weekend, the Saint Louis Science Center hosted the Community STEAM Showcase, highlighting the accomplishments of people of color and women in STEM. The Community STEAM Showcase (some may remember it as the Minority Scientist Showcase) has served for more than 20 years as a place for St. Louis to see—and, in non-pandemic years, even meet—the underrepresented diversity in STEAM, or science, technology, engineering, art, and math.

This year, the COVID-19 pandemic required that the event look a bit different, but the Museum of Black Inventors, a local pop-up museum, was on hand to shine a spotlight on many of the contributions African Americans have made in STEAM—contributions that often go overlooked or left out of the history books entirely.

At displays set up in the Science Center’s lower-level May Hall, guests could learn about Dr. Charles Drew, a surgeon and medical researcher who helped develop a means of processing and storing blood. They could learn about Frederick Jones, an inventor and entrepreneur who created an air conditioning unit for automobiles. Or even Lonnie Johnson, an inventor and engineer who created the Super Soaker water gun.

 

Science Center guests view a display from the Museum of Black Inventors
Science Center guests view a display from the Museum of Black Inventors.

 

One of the key objectives of the event each year is to help inspire people from all backgrounds to see themselves represented in science and technology. It’s an important goal when STEAM careers are expected to grow in the coming years, but Black and Hispanic adults comprise a lower percentage of STEAM workers as compared to the rest of the workforce.

According to a 2021 Pew Research Center article, for example, Black workers make up 11% of total employment across all occupations but only 9% of STEAM fields, and only 5% when looking at fields like engineering or 7% for computer occupations. Hispanic workers, who make up around 17% of the total workforce, only account for 8% of STEAM workers. Even the percentage of women in STEAM varies dramatically across fields; despite making up approximately 74% of healthcare workers, women represent 25% of workers in computer occupations and only 15% in fields like engineering and architecture.

In a typical year, the Community STEAM Showcase has been known to bring in exhibitors and feature presenters from a range of STEAM backgrounds and professions, making it possible for the public to hear from, meet, and interact with people of color and women working in STEAM, and even help introduce members of the community to STEAM careers they might not have heard about before.

While pandemic precautions scaled back the event this year, members of the Science Center’s Community Science department handed out an assortment of STEAM kits for kids to take home. The kits covered topics including engineering, art, astronomy, and critical thinking through DIY activities like constructing a skyscraper, a maze, or a stargazing kit.

 

The Science Center team hands out STEAM kits to guests at the Community STEAM Showcase.
The Science Center team hands out STEAM kits to guests at the Community STEAM Showcase.

 

The Missouri History Museum also provided take-home activity kits that introduced kids to activities like writing affirmations and creating their own peace signage. Water bottles from STEM STL highlighted summer camp options throughout the St. Louis area.

In total, the team gave out more than 140 activity kits to members of the community.

Mia Harsley, Manager, Program Operations with the Science Center’s Community Science department said, “At the Science Center we’re always excited to showcase the diversity in science and technology. With the Community STEAM Showcase, it’s such a privilege and so exciting to be part of an inclusive day of STEAM—one that highlights and celebrates the diversity in science, technology, engineering, art, and math.”

 


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