Announcing Fall 2015 Wilmington Program

FALL 2015 : WILMINGTON
GRADES : 4-6
LAB : OCTOBER 17, 2015 : 9:00 - 3:00PM
WEBINAR DATES : 09/28, 10/05, 10/12 ( TOTAL 3 WEBINARS )
WEBINAR TIME : 4:30 - 5:30PM
COST : $192 ( ALL MATERIAL INCLUDED)

Class Details & Information:

Do you have someone who loves building things, from LEGOs, to K’Nex, to whatever they find in the garage? Do they read stories about inventors and their inventions? This class is for them. They will use 3D Printers*, little Bits, LEGO robotics, molding and casting materials, TinkerCad, and more to make their very own inventions. We will teach them the engineering method by introducing them to different technologies and then, giving them time to design and build their own ideas. With our experience in engineering & STEM and thousands of dollars worth of materials and equipment, your student will get an experience that can’t be duplicated.

Webinars will be held September 28, October 5 & 12, and followed by an all day workshop on Saturday, October 17th from 9:00-3:00PM. The cost is $192 and includes ALL materials.

Young Engineers Of Today Now Enrolling for Fall 2015 Semester.

This Fall our students will be using new rapid prototyping equipment including a CNC machine, laser cutters and milling machines to begin learning how to make almost anything.  We are strengthening our program by adding more 3D Printers (10 or more) and buying the all new and more powerful Raspberry Pi computers for our students. We will be offering programs for Grades 5 thru 12. 

We will cover the following topics starting in the fall:

●    3D Design and prototyping using laser cutters and 3D printers
●    Using Shopbot (CNC router) to make living hinges
●    Electronics and Arduino microcontrollers with new projects
●    OpenSCAD using computer code to create objects.
●    Milling machines and circuit board creation
●    Programming using Python
●    Physical computing with the new Raspberry Pi version 2

As always, the labs and Webinars (we like to think of them as “Labinars” since the kids are doing labs at home) will continue to feature hands-on projects that focus on relevant, inquiry-based learning.

Young Engineers Of Today Summer Camps Now Enrolling

Our exciting and educational Summer Camp Program will be available this Summer.  We will have engineering camps available in Charlotte, Fort Mill, Harrisburg, Raleigh, Winston-Salem and Hickory.  Half day and full day camps are being offered.

Your child will learn about:
•  Robotics
•  3D Printing
•  Computer Programming
•  Building Circuits
•  Self Driving Cars and More

Visit http://www.youngengineersoftoday.com/summer-camp-class-descriptions.html
for additional details, locations and registration information.  Our Summer camps fill-up fast so contact us soon if you have an interest.

Spring Engineering Program for Middle School Girls Offered in Charlotte & Winston-Salem.

Young Engineers Of Today with the support of the Society of Information Managers (SIM) is offering a special spring program to encourage young women in Middle School to explore the worlds of programming and engineering.  These young women will use everything from 3D Printers to Raspberry Pi computers, to program games, build their very own UV manicure lamps, create beautiful electronic trees, and make wearable computers.    
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The cost of this program is being subsidized by SIM.  For information visit: youngengineersoftoday.com

Coincidence?

Coincidence? This year we teach wearable computing and Raspberry Pi.
The number of girls in next year’s class increased 50%.

Latin 7th Grade Girls featured on Raspberry Pi Blog

We are on today. Here are the very nice comments from Liz Upton:

I met Tom Dubick about a year ago at Hackerspace Charlotte, NC. He teaches engineering to the girls at Charlotte Latin School, and we believe his class was the first to be using the Raspberry Pi in the United States.

He and a group of his 13-year-old pupils have just given a TEDx talk called How Girls Should Serve Raspberry Pi. The girls here are presenting the projects they’ve made with Raspberry Pi over this semester, but there’s another important message here: we know that STEM subjects are not just for boys, but we should recognise that not all girls are the same, so our teaching approach is doomed if we decide that the only way to get girls into engineering subjects is to “shrink it and pink it”.

Keep watching — the projects get better and better. (Rolling backpack indicator lights FTW!)

Building Future Engineers

A goal of this blog is to promote teaching young people the engineering method. I have spent over twenty years teaching middle and high school students engineering. I think the best way to teach engineering is by doing engineering with a minimum of lecture time and and a maximum lab time. The labs or projects need to be interesting and relevant to kids. We try to create labs where students use math as a tool that saves them time when doing the engineering project. We explain the underlying science ideas or better yet we try to get the students to rediscover these concepts. The sweet spot is a class that is both engaging and academically rigorous.
I will provide tips and trick for teaching kids engineering as well as news that you might find interesting. Here are some of the topics I will cover:

• Aviation featuring Fly To Learn
• Bridges featuring West Point Bridge Designer
• Programming including Scratch,Python and C++
• Physical computing — think Arduino
• Raspberry Pi Computing
• Robotics featuring LEGO EV3, NXT and Tetrix

I have linked a local TEDx talk I did in Charlotte last year. It explains my views on teaching children. I am very curious what you think and I hope you will share your ideas.