The Scott Family Amazeum is expanding play beyond the museum walls through the Learning + Design Group, a professional service to help educators and community partners reimagine hands-on learning in public spaces. For Northwest Arkansas families, that means more opportunities to encounter playful, curiosity-driven experiences in the places they already learn, gather and explore together. This is exciting news for anyone who believes thoughtfully designed spaces can inspire curiosity, creativity, and connection for people of all ages.

The Amazeum Learning + Design Group (L+D Group) brings together two areas of expertise that serve schools, communities, and partners regionally and nationally: The Learning Practice strengthens inquiry-driven, play-based, and STEAM-rich teaching through professional development workshops, educator coaching, and learning space design and consultation. The Design Practice transforms ideas into physical experiences through collaborative ideation, prototyping, fabrication, and site-integrated installation.

The L+D Group aims to cultivate interactive environments that invite discovery and connection. When a project calls for both learning and design elements to come together, that's when the magic happens!

"The Amazeum has been collaborating with partners for over a decade," said Sam Dean, CEO of the Scott Family Amazeum. "We've worked alongside schools and communities to create experiences that spark curiosity and learning. The Learning + Design Group focuses on educational spaces and practices that allow us to deepen our impact, strengthen partnerships, and help create even more places where people of all ages can discover, create, and connect."

You may have already experienced one of those collaborations from the thinkers and makers behind the L+D Group while passing through the Northwest Arkansas National Airport. The XNA Wonder Wing, which opened in June, transformed a 75-foot former moving walkway corridor into an interactive play and learning space where families in transit can unwind, explore and discover the wonder of flight before they take off.

Other projects from the L+D Group include Northwest Arkansas and regional school districts' integration of hands-on, STEAM learning into classrooms, and Rainbow Springs, an interactive public art installation in downtown Bentonville that blends technology and artistry.

The same spirit of wonder that fills the Amazeum is now showing up in schools, airports, and public spaces across the region — and that's something every family in Northwest Arkansas can feel good about.

More information about the Amazeum Learning + Design Group is available at learningdesign.amazeum.org