Focus Areas
- Higher-order thinking skills
- Creativity and positive creativity
- Wisdom and wise reasoning
- Critical thinking and adaptive intelligence
- Dispositions and habits of mind
- Informal STEAM learning
- STEM talent development and student engagement
- Underachievement and untapped potential
- Innovation in learning and design
A Living Lab for Creative STEAM Learning
The Imaginarium serves as a living lab where research, design, and practice come together. We learn from visitors, educators, schools, and community partners to strengthen exhibits, improve programs, and explore new ideas.
Innovation here is not only about creating something new—it is about creating something meaningful, useful, and responsive to real needs.
How Innovation Happens Here
Our work is shaped by a cycle of listening, designing, testing, and improving.
Listen
We learn from schools, families, educators, and community partners to understand needs, opportunities, and goals.
Design
We create exhibits, activities, field trip experiences, and educational resources that are interactive, creative, and grounded in learning.
Test
We pilot ideas, observe engagement, gather feedback, and refine what we offer.
Grow
We use what we learn to strengthen programs, support partnerships, and inform future research and innovation.
Research in Action
Research at the Imaginarium takes many forms. It may include:
- Studying how children engage with hands-on exhibits
- Exploring how creative problem solving develops through playful learning
- Designing and improving field trip experiences
- Developing educator guides and learning materials
- Examining collaboration, inquiry, and engagement in interactive settings
- Co-designing programs with schools and community partners
- Supporting pilot projects that may lead to future grant opportunities
Because the Imaginarium is both a public-facing center and a university-based initiative, it offers a unique opportunity to connect scholarship with practice in ways that directly benefit visitors, educators, and communities.
Collaboration and Partnership
Collaboration is central to our work. The Imaginarium welcomes partnerships with faculty across Mississippi State University, as well as researchers, educators, and community organizations beyond MSU.
We are especially interested in collaborations related to:
- Designing and conducting research studies
- Developing interdisciplinary research projects
- Building internal and external grant proposals
- Creating community-engaged and school-based partnerships
- Studying creativity, thinking, learning, and development
- Designing and evaluating innovative educational programs, exhibits, and outreach models
Whether the goal is to conduct a study, pilot a new idea, or develop a proposal for internal or external funding, we welcome conversations about how the Imaginarium can serve as a collaborative partner.
Start a Collaboration Conversation
Student Involvement
The Imaginarium is also a space for student learning and leadership. Graduate assistants and student team members contribute to research, facilitation, exhibit testing, and program development.
Through this work, students gain experience in research, communication, design, community engagement, and hands-on educational practice.
Learn About Student Opportunities
Looking Ahead
As the Imaginarium continues to grow, so does our commitment to research, innovation, and collaboration. We are excited to keep developing exhibits, programs, partnerships, and research initiatives that bring together creativity, learning, and discovery in meaningful ways.
We hope the Imaginarium will continue to serve as a place where faculty, researchers, students, and community partners can come together to explore important questions, develop new ideas, and create opportunities for meaningful impact.
Connect With Us
We are always interested in conversations about research collaboration, interdisciplinary partnerships, proposal development, and community-engaged innovation.
Faculty at Mississippi State University, as well as researchers and partners from other institutions, are invited to connect with us to explore possibilities for collaborative research, grant development, program innovation, and community-based projects.