EXHIBITION DESIGN

4th FLOOR : LEARNING THROUGH SPORT

Educational programming is another key factor to enhance the Museum’s long-term viability. The 4th Floor, equipped with classrooms, screening rooms, and open spaces for hosting presentations and seminars, will be dedicated to sports-themed educational programming and interactions.

EDUCATIONAL PROGRAMMING

All local schools will be invited to participate in school field trips. Through exceptional programming, the goal is to grow a following among the area’s youth population, who, in turn, will encourage their families to share these experiences with them. The aim is to create hands-on experiences for students to actively discover and apply knowledge from all different subjects utilizing information and data generated from their favorite sports.

Along with the underlying notion of making learning as fun as possible, these programs will be designed to capture students’ attention by weaving subjects such as math, science, technology, analytics, history, social studies, journalism, civil rights and others into the contextual framework of sports.

Here are some of the planned educational programs:

  1. School field trips, based on various educational modules (including materials sent to teachers in advance) that are aligned with the public-school curriculum standards,

  2. After-school extracurricular programs, including building up interpersonal skills and greater awareness of the importance of health, nutrition and exercise as well as social justice and inclusivity,

  3. Adult seminars, including sport management, marketing, law, history, analytics and the many different ways to pursue an off-the-field career in sports,

  4. Youth hospital outreach, a portable exhibit that brings the museum’s experiences and learning lessons to boys and girls who face extended hospital stays, and

  5. Summer camp outings, called “Training Camp,” where campers find out what it takes to go pro.

SPORTS P.L.U.S.

Programming will be designed as modules, called Sports P.L.U.S. (Personal Learning Using Sports), that can be easily integrated into the standardized public-school curriculum. Working closely with teachers and complying with DOE standards will align the content of these out-of-classroom experiences to strongly reinforce what students are studying in school. This type of integrated solution is essential in order to build up enthusiastic support from schools, parents, teachers and the various Boards of Education. Students will likely appreciate the relevance to their studies, and the sports references may help them grasp difficult material.

As sports also serve as an excellent forum to instruct and nurture character traits such as teamwork, sportsmanship and determination, extracurricular programming will include overarching interpersonal and behavioral skills as well. One extracurricular module will focus on health, nutrition and exercise, particularly in response to nationwide efforts spearheaded by former First Lady Michelle Obama to lower the overwhelming incidence of childhood obesity. As an additional benefit, the simulators may help some kids to transition into playing sports and/or find the sport best suited for them based on the entertaining elements and various skill levels that make it possible for everyone to succeed.

Education modules can also be designed for adults who want to study about sports business and marketing, or college and graduate students who are studying sport management and want to take a more hands-on approach to the material being presented in the classroom. Beyond academics, many exhibits focus on giving players the tools to become better athletes, while testing their skills relative to their peers and giving valuable feedback on their performance.