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Oil and gas museum takes education a step further
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Danielle Feist, Executive Director of the Kansas Oil and Gas Museum has teamed up with USD 428 to offer classes to students in the 4th and 6th grade.

The Kansas Oil and Gas Museum has teamed up with USD 428 to offer classes to 4th and 6th graders through a grant it received last November from the Golden Belt Community Foundation for the 2017 and 2018 school year.
“I am very excited to be working with USD 428 and offering these classes to the students,” Museum Executive Director Danielle Feist said. “These classes will provide these students education about local and world history along with science related topics.”
The purpose of the grant was to build the education program at the museum and offer teachers in the USD 428 other means of curriculum for their students. The museum has done a few programs like this is the past and according to Feist, there has been a lot of interest from parents, teachers and students for more classes like this.
The classes are designed to be education standard aligned with the school district allowing teachers to use them in their education plans for the students.
“I wanted to have a purpose for these classes,” Feist said. “I could just go to the school and teach the students, but I wanted the students and the teachers to get more out of the classes. I want the students to feel like they have developed a passion for science and history and feel a connection with the museum.”

The classes
Fourth graders will be part of a science aligned program that will cover rocks and minerals, where they come from and how these minerals formed fossil fuel. The 6th graders will be part of a world history aligned program that will focus on ancient civilization and how they made use of natural gas and oil.
There will be a 5th grade class that will focus on local and Kansas history and how the oil and gas production has been a vital part of Barton County growth. The class for 5th graders will begin the next school year. According to Feist, they decided to go with the 4th and 6th graders this year just to see how well the program goes.
“We wanted to start with a smaller sample size and see how well it goes,” Feist said. “The following school year we will host classes for the 5th graders and who knows maybe even more grades can take part.”
The program for the 4th graders will be in October and in January and April for the 6th graders. For more information about these classes contact the museum at 620-793-8301.