“We are the only science museum in a 200-mile radius. The Fort Worth Museum is the only support for our organization in the state.” —Sandy Henry, Executive Director

Lubbock is a city of 197,117 in northwestern Texas. The Lubbock School District has 29,026 students, 15% African American, 43% Hispanic, and 41% Caucasian. Fifty-four percent come from economically disadvantaged households. Annual attendance at Spectrum is 250,000
students (from over 60 districts), teachers, families, tourists, and outreach audience members from West Texas South Plains and Eastern New Mexico.

The Spectrum, opened in 1989, features over 200 interactive exhibits, an OMNIMAX®, live animals, live demonstrations, an area for young children, funshops, and traveling exhibitions. Outreach programs extend 200 miles from Lubbock, serving 12,000 youth annually. Spectrum is the hub for the Texas Region 17 educational service unit and is the distribution center for curriculum materials, including FOSS kits. The museum offers professional development, some necessary for Head Start certification.

Science Spectrum was a participant in the Exploratorium Starter Sets project in 1993 (NSF 92-53404). It provided new science centers with interactive Exploratorium exhibits. Starter Sets did not include consulting and did not offer participants resources to encourage visitor interaction with exhibits. Over the past six years, the Exploratorium has incorporated lessons learned into ExNET, addressing both consulting and maintenance, and these lessons have folded over into the design of TexNET.