The Discovery Center of Springfield in Springfield, Missouri, is an interactive hands-on museum committed to inspiring people of all ages with a lifelong love of learning and an appreciation of the world and our place in it. Its history goes back to the late 1980s when a group of community volunteers led by the junior league of Springfield began a feasibility study for a children's hands-on museum project for Springfield and the Ozark region. It was determined that a hands-on museum could provide a unique learning environment that would help cultivate children's curiosity and imagination, confidence, communication, interaction and interpretive skills. They believed the potential exhibits and programs developed could appeal to all ages and stages of learners.