NEAR TAMMS, A MUSEUM FOR STUDENTS...

Unique not only best describes a new hands-on museum at Egyptian School near Tamms, Ill., but the way it was put together as well.

The brainchild of teacher Jackie Meadows, the Wham Bam Doodle Hands-On Museum of Natural Science and Resources occupies two classrooms in the elementary school, home of Southern Illinois' only public school-based museum.

As its name fittingly reveals, the museum is for elementary-school students -- mostly pre-kindergartners through fifth graders, although some seventh-graders are in a museum apprentice program, and 12th-grade students help with it.

Students this month are sculpting dinosaurs, dispelling dinosaur myths and making fossil prints. A scale model of a dinosaur is part of the museum's "Welcome to Bedrock" exhibit. A Bedrock Post Office resides in one corner of the museum, and each hallway of the school has been given a name. The students send letters to each other addressed to the various teachers' rooms. Not only is it fun, but the post office offers the opportunity to do research on cities and towns.

Throughout the year the youngsters also are learning about coal, an important mineral across Southern Illinois. Another exhibit offers a miniature archaeological dig, and there's a veterinary care center. The museum has three computers, one of which has an Internet connection.

Students often show up at the museum long before the start of school to get their hands on the displays. That is because young children can learn so much more when they are able to get involved, touch and build, as they are encouraged to do through the museum.

The museum is remarkable in the fact that it was funded with less than $1,000, and all of the money has been donated by businesses and individuals.

School principal Jim McGowen can't believe it. When Meadows first approached him with the idea, he envisioned a simple project: perhaps some seeds growing beneath a light bulb. Was he ever surprised. "This is the way science should be taught -- hands-on exploration, invention, letting them achieve what they can achieve," McGowen said.

Meadows, an early-childhood and special-education teacher, took on the project as extra duty. She and everyone who helped put the museum together showed what can be accomplished when people pull together, and it all was done without a single cent of school district money.