Category: Cyber Garage Blog

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Time To Geek Out at Cyber Garage! Fall Registration Now Open!

Forget fashion week – “geek chic” is all the rage this fall!
Just ask our Girl’s App Team, who WON the Google App competition this past spring – talk about heading back to school with serious bragging rights.
STEAM classes are the must-have for every kid this season. Immerse your child in STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art & Math) this fall and set them up for success in school and beyond.
Get A Fierce-Class Education!
Sure you can get off-the-rack STEAM classes at school – but don’t your kids deserve the best, to keep them on the cutting edge in their education?
Even the most highly acclaimed schools cannot keep up with the amount of new information to be taught — they might emphasize or celebrate STEM or STEAM subjects, but no school is doing a deep dive into the amazing new technologies, tools and creative processes like we do at Cyber Garage.
Take a Closer Look
Cyber Garage is the ONLY Makerspace, Tech and Robotics Lab in Marin offering the most advanced technology combined with hands-on project-based STEAM education for kids K-12.
Because STEAM education is all we do, at Cyber Garage we have the ability to create an augmentation-based curriculum. We introduce STEAM subjects in fun new ways, like building imagining Derby cars, rockets and robots. Then we dive deep using a design-build method that inspires kids to think way outside the box, to get out of their comfort zones in a space where they can “fail safely” and learn skills in real world experiences.
Check out our fall line-up. All of our programs engage kids through project based learning to give them the confidence and critical thinking skills to take on any creative or academic challenge.

  • Robotics
  • Coding and Game Design
  • CNC Woodworking Machines
  • Animation, 3D Modeling
  • 1:1 Laptops & PC’s
  • iPads & Macs
  • Laser Cutting
  • Filmmaking
  • Sewing, Wearable Tech
  • Digital Arts
  • Arduinos, Raspberry Pi
  • And More!


Sign Up for Fall Classes NOW!
By providing hands-on opportunities to design, experiment, build and invent things from a young age, Cyber Garage helps kids realize that subjects that once seemed “too hard or boring” are now accessible…and FUN!
Not every kid needs to grow up to become a scientist, engineer or designer, but in this ever-changing world, everyone needs to grow up to think like one.
Learn More and Register at https://www.thecybergarage.com/fall-2017-classes/
Email us at mailto:info@thecybergarage.com or call us at 415/785-7660 for more information.

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STEM + Art = STEAM

Why Add Art?

The STEM to STEAM is an initiative originally led by Rhode Island School of Design (RISD) to add Art and Design to the national agenda of STEM education and research in America. The goal is to foster the true innovation that comes with combining the mind of a scientist or technologist with that of an artist or designer.

http://www.risd.edu/about/stem_to_steam/

The objectives of the STEAM movement are to:

  • Transform research policy to place Art + Design at the center of STEM
  • Encourage integration of Art + Design in K–20 education
  • Influence employers to hire artists and designers to drive innovation

STEAM advocates say that to be successful in technical fields, individuals must also be creative and use critical thinking skills which are best developed through exposure to the Arts. http://www.slate.com/articles/technology/future_tense/2015/06/steam_vs_stem_why_we_need_to_put_the_arts_into_stem_education.html

According to former Education Secretary Duncan, “The arts provide us with new ways of thinking, new ways to draw connections…and they help maintain our competitive edge by engendering innovation and creativity.” And National Endowment for the Arts Chairman Landesman has echoed this sentiment, saying, “The arts can no longer be treated as a frill, … arts education is essential to stimulating the creativity and innovation that will prove critical to young Americans competing in a global economy.”

“The jobs in the greatest demand in the future don’t yet exist and will require workers to use technologies that have not yet been invented to solve problems that we don’t yet even know are problems.” Clinton’s former Secretary of Education, Richard Riley

The Benefits of STEAM

Hands-on STEAM projects work to both spark the imagination and to help students develop skills such as problem solving, collaborating, idea generation, design thinking, and tech literacy. These skills set students up for success in STEM, and beyond.

Anne Jolly argues in Education Week that STEAM uses the Arts as an “on-ramp to STEM for underrepresented students.”

The STEAM approach makes STEM more accessible and enjoyable to kids that might otherwise “pass” on subjects that don’t capture their interest or have turned them off in some way (e.g., missing a difficult concept and losing interest in the class, having a boring (or anxious) math teacher, or even not seeing people like them represented in those fields, like female engineers.)

STEAM also helps to close the diversity gap that exists in the STEM fields.

In an increasingly interdisciplinary and digital world, using design methods to approach STEM subjects can make them exciting, relevant and fun to all students, while creating STEM students who think creatively and remain engaged in their learning.


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STEM to STEAM. Create. Innovate. Succeed.

What is STEM, and why is it important?

Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (commonly abbreviated as “STEM”) are the four classic academic disciplines essential to innovation and to our country’s economic success.

The United States has fallen far behind other global leaders in the STEM fields. Fewer students are pursuing STEM fields and there are not enough teachers skilled to teach those subjects.

President Obama set a priority of increasing the number of students and teachers who are proficient in these vital fields. “Science is more than a school subject, or the periodic table, or the properties of waves. It is an approach to the world, a critical way to understand and explore and engage with the world, and then have the capacity to change that world.”

“The quality of math and science teachers is the most important single factor influencing whether students will succeed or fail in science, technology, engineering and math,” President Obama said. “Passionate educators with issue expertise can make all the difference, enabling hands-on learning that truly engages students—including girls and underrepresented minorities—and preparing them to tackle the grand challenges of the 21st century such as increasing energy independence, improving people’s health, protecting the environment, and strengthening national security.”

Advocates of STEM consider these steps to be fundamental to America’s future success:

  • STEM education must be elevated as a national priority.
  • Our nation’s future economic prosperity is closely linked with student success in the STEM fields.
  • The U.S. must expand the capacity and diversity of the STEM workforce pipeline.
  • Policymakers at every level must be informed about policy issues related to STEM education.
  • Effective policies to promote STEM education should be bipartisan and evidence-based.

http://www.stemedcoalition.org

 
 
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