Jun. 7—Youngsters can explore the universe at a temporary exhibit at Muskogee STEAM Center.

And a new director can help guide them.

The STEAM Center — a hands-on museum that introduces children to Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and Math — is working with the Tulsa Discovery Lab to offer temporary exhibits.

The first exhibit arrived May 31 and focuses on different aspects of the universe, said Melony Carey, a STEAM Center volunteer.

Carey said the Discovery Lab recently retired the exhibit and helped install it at the STEAM Center earlier this month.

“We are essentially storing it for them indefinitely, and we’ll bring it back at some time,” Carey said. “Right now it’s ours.”

She said Discovery Lab will loan other exhibits in the future.

STEAM Center Manager Sandi Oney said the exhibit has 10 stations for children of all ages.

“One station shows how different types of light can be detected in the universe,” she said. “Children can see how hidden things can be seen with through infrared or ultraviolet light. People also can see magnetic fields.”

Another station lets people build a model space port and test its torque by putting it on a rotating surface. Torque measures how much force is needed to cause rotation.

“You can test to see if your craft has all the elements for a space port,” Carey said.

One station has a hopper full of blue and yellow beads representing the multitudes of stars and planets in the universe, Oney said.

“Only one that we know has life on it, and that is Earth, and that is a red bead,” she said. “It’s in there somewhere, children have to look for it.”

Oney, who earned an engineering degree from Oklahoma State University, became STEAM Center manager at the start of June. She used to teach at Starbase Oklahoma, a U.S. Department of Defense educational program.

“I love STEM and I love engineering and showing that it’s not just books and memorizing facts,” Oney said. “I hope to get children involved in seeing that there’s lots of different ways of learning and to give kids here in Muskogee a hands-on opportunity to see things that maybe they don’t have at their house.”

She said she also wants to inspire parents to do STEAM experiments with their children

“A lot of communities and a lot of schools do have STEAM centers and it’s important that we have something like this here,” Oney said.

Muskogee STEAM Center has another new exhibit, “Dig It: Secrets of Soil,” from the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History. The exhibit is funded through a grant by the Ruby Family Trust.

“Kids can read about soil, and they also can test soil and learn about its Ph balance,” Carey said.