Carnegie Science Center Hopes To Spark Kids' Interest With New $33 Million Expansion
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PITTSBURGH (KDKA) -- The Carnegie Science Center is about to open a new $33 million expansion to get the next generation excited about science.
The new 48,000-square-foot PPG Science Pavilion has been in planning for nearly a decade.
"I'm most excited to show the public the kinds of new experiences they'll be able to have at Carnegie Science Center," Science Center co-director Ann Metzger said. "Many people think the Science Center is just for kids, and it's not. We'll have wonderful new exhibits that will bring in people of all ages."
One of those new exhibits -- the LEGO exhibit, where families will have so much fun playing, they won't realize they're learning about engineering.
There's a gigantic two-level exhibit hall with room for traveling exhibits that were too large to come to the Science Center before, double the number of classrooms and the new FedEx STEM Learning Labs, where kids and their parents will get to experiment with the help of scientists like James Falba. The point is to get children excited about science.
"Then they grow up loving science, thinking of the ways science can help the world and being curious about the world around them," Falba said.
The hope is that some of them will grow to love science so much they'll want to make it a career.
"The younger you get kids engaged in science, technology, engineering and math, the more likely they are to continue in school with that," PPG Chairman and CEO Michael McGarry said.
PPG donated $7.5 million to the project, which dovetails with 35 years of supporting the Science Center and the company's 135th anniversary.
"It's really kind of cool when you think about it. You're part of the community, you're giving back to the community, you're showing the community what the future looks like, and we're really excited about how we can get kids motivated to continue to learn," McGarry said.
The PPG Science Pavilion will open to the public on Saturday.
