Snakes, wobble-bots, whale bones, oh my! MSW brings exciting, hands-on science to SF's highest-need communities.
Mission and History
MSW was founded in 1991 in Dan Sudran’s garage, which was filled with his collections of magnets, fossils, animal bones, radios, and more. Neighborhood kids began to stop by daily, fascinated by Dan's science collections and wanting to tinker, build, and explore. There, the idea of a "science workshop" was born.
Now, MSW has THREE public workshop spaces, where students and families come to explore all of their curiosities. From our woodshop — to our live animals — to our physics exhibits, there's something for everyone!
Our workshops enrich the lives of students from high-need communities through exciting, hands-on science — here, they can crack open shale fossils, wire a motor toy, build a wooden scooter, ride a homemade hovercraft, and so much more.
What We Do
MSW operates 3 bilingual community science centers that provide hands-on science enrichment activities to underserved youth and families. We partner with public schools and local community organizations to provide field trips, after-school and summer programs, mobile programs, and free community drop-in days.
Through experiments, tinkering and construction projects, our programs engage our students’ sense of curiosity and wonder to create authentic learning experiences.
We currently serve over 65 public schools in The San Francisco Bay Area. Each day, we serve approximately 200 youth, with a yearly impact of approximately 16,000 individual students.
Our Impact
For over 30 years, we have partnered with Title-1 public schools and community organizations in the Bay Area to provide free or low-cost science programs to the students that need it most.
On the 2023-24 school year we reached over 16,000 individual students from over 80 schools and community organizations with our school-day and after-school programs, as well as hosting weekly community science events for are free and open for all students, families, and community members.
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We are proud to partner with local schools and community organizations whose students benefit from our bilingual and hands-on science experiences in our inspiring workshop spaces.
Interested in partnering with us?
Though we are open to all field trip inquiries, we prioritize partnering with Title-1 public schools where 50% or more of their student body qualifies for free or reduced lunch. We are committed to contributing towards equity in the sciences, and have an intentional focus on providing programming for students typically under-represented in the sciences who have historically lacked access to high quality science education.