Interactive Visitor Experience
As a hub of experiential learning, the Museum will stimulate young minds and motivate the next generation of Coast Guard men and women, engineers, scientists and innovators through simulated qualifications, edifying out-of-classroom experiences and team building exercises. The primary goal is to provide a comprehensive immersion into Coast Guard life with blended and highly engaging learning experiences for every visitor. Examples of engagements that are in consideration include:
• A simulated Coast Guard Qualification Program, which requires participants to garner knowledge, demonstrate competencies, and execute a mission in the STEM Discovery Center’s Qualification and Simulation Center, named for Coast Guard Yeoman, Arnold Palmer
• Virtual reality simulators and immersive galleries allow visitors to place themselves in the role of an active duty member of the Coast Guard
• Future opportunities include the ability to teach the leadership secrets of the Coast Guard with content informed by the Admiral James M. Loy Institute for Leadership at the Coast Guard Academy
““I am excited that this Museum will create a place to teach a child that America has always raised heroes, and you can be one, if you measure up to the heroes within.””
Inspiring tomorrow's leaders
Experience Will encourage range of careers
The vital responsibilities of the U.S. Coast Guard are carried out by highly trained men and women who perform these missions with honor, respect, and devotion to duty. Knowing that, the Museum will inspire interest for careers in maritime, aeronautics, engineering, mathematics and the USCG. Coast Guard innovations will also encourage visitors to think about solutions for the challenges and problems our world faces.
Museum Education Initiative
Committed to ensuring that visitors leave the future Museum with new insights into the important and exciting role of the USCG as a leader in innovation, the National Coast Guard Museum Association was delighted to receive a $75,000 grant from The Richard Lounsbery Foundation to further the foundation's mission of investing in novel projects and forward-thinking ideas that strengthen children's performance in Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) disciplines.
Known as the Museum Education Initiative (MEI), the effort provided the blueprint for an engaging visitor experience through STEM-learning objectives and interactive exhibits that will be integrated into the building and exhibit design.
MEI members from across the Nation include USCG historians, exhibit designers, and subject matter experts, who are working together through a series of workshops, panels and community forums to design learning experiences in three areas of exploration:
Encountering a virtual shipmate of the USCG.
Simulating USCG qualification goals.
Enhancing the primary and secondary school curricular.
A Museum Exhibit Advisory Panel (MEAP), a blue ribbon panel of distinguished Coast Guard champions, has also been called upon to provide advice as to how best to present the themes, stories and artifacts that will be on display at the National Coast Guard Museum.
