Four years ago, CreatingSTEAM was a concept and an experiment. We knew education had to change. Could education evolve to a new form of meaningful student engagement and exploration? Our hypothesis was that through immersive hands-on project-based experiential learning, education could motivate, inspire, and transform students into independent life-long learners.
This year’s 2017 International Back-To-School Code-a-thon provided students the opportunity to engage with their peers in an immersive experiential learning program. Many students experienced for the very first time what coding is about, learning to work with other students in a coding project for the first time, and alumni students from last year had the opportunity to share their knowledge as a mentor for the first time. Many first‘s that shaped their thinking to explore, create, and solve problems on a global scale. Learning to collaborate within their teams and learning the value of cross-collaboration with teams from around the world.
I recently had the pleasure of delivering a youth Robotics program, and I was inspired by two young female participants in particular. A 14-year-old middle school student and a college student, who is aspiring to become a math teacher, worked together as a team for five days to learn about Robotics. What I observed during their time together was a strong interest in learning and their ability to overcome obstacles to reach their goals.
We Connect The Dots Founder and Executive Director, Laurie Carey, recently joined journalist and innovative problem solver, Devin Thorpe, to discuss how we can be better communicators, thinkers, and professionals in a fast-paced, technology-dependent world. By disrupting the status quo and diversifying - not only in our professional workplace but also in our personal relationships - we can benefit from differing perspectives, fostering innovation, and positive change.
