Learning

Creativity
We encourage students to be creative and to generate projects that reflect themselves. Past students have focused their projects on topics ranging from kittens to their favorite musical artists or video game characters. We do have certain content guidelines including no intense violence or strong language, but for the most part the sky is the limit! One of the things we hear most often from kids is that they love making their creations come to life.

Exploration
Our dual focus on providing individual attention and fostering creativity helps to ensure that even kids who "don't like math and science" do like our classes. Because each student works on their own computer at their own pace, they aren't constantly comparing themselves to the rest of the class. This gives kids the freedom to explore and expand their abilities in a safe space. By harnessing each child's creativity and internal motivation we are able to show them that math and science really are fun. For example, most kids get excited about animating a character they have created. In order to do that, they need to understand the Cartesian (x-y) coordinate system and may use precise angles measured in degrees to control character movements. They also learn about programming topics such as sequence, iteration, conditional statements, and loops - the basic building blocks for creating more complex computer programs later on. It's amazing how their perceptions can change when you give students a reason to learn math that is personally relevant for them!

Having Fun
Finally, we create an environment where students can make new friends and spark one another's creativity. Students get plenty of practice giving and receiving constructive criticism. After all, everyone wants to make the very best project they can to share with their family and friends on the last day of class! Each student takes home his or her project on CD too. And because we strive to choose affordable technology tools and software, kids can continue to learn and explore long after the class is over.