Help Bring Innovation to the Classroom

Recently, I’ve undertaken a venture to help bring educational innovation to the classroom. I have been working on a project funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF) to create an innovative curriculum to provide a way to get kids interested in Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) through a story-based curriculum. I invite you to lend a hand in this effort.

We successfully piloted some really cool ideas and got some good feedback and data on the effectiveness of our approach but, as most funding does, the funding ran out. So rather than quit or give up on the concept, one of the co-principle investigators and I decided to launch a start up 2KLearning.

The modest goal of the start up is to bring the maker movement into the classroom, expand learning in middle school beyond the four walls of the classroom and to make STEM engaging, fun and exciting for girls and boys to encourage careers in the technical fields. I invite you to lend a hand in this effort.

The curriculum we’ve developed allows students to learn and reinforce knowledge by learning about motion and forces by driving around a sphere in a virtual, video-game type environment and driving an object called the Sphero around a pre-defined obstacle course or an obstacle course built by the eighth graders. We wrapped both experience around relevant curriculum standards and guidelines but the nature of the learning is that it is not “teaching-to-the-test” rather it is design in the true spirit of the standards which answer the question “what should students know to be successful in life” and takes the concept and applied a health dose of focused hands-on activities which are engaging for the students. They learn while they work a solving challenges and overcoming obstacles through general problem-solving and discipline specific approaches.

BUT WE NEED YOUR HELP.

We/ve launch a Kickstarter Campaign and are a little behind in our funding goals. We are hoping to generate a modest $5,000 to pilot test our curriculum in schools.

We are half-way done with the campaign but don’t even have 1/2 the money raised. You can donate as little as $5. The cost of a cup of coffee in some areas. We are asking you to donate for the students, to carry on the experiment of making educational meaningful and of energizing kids so they appreciate, enjoy and embrace science and engineering. (our primary focus). Again, I invite you to lend a hand in this effort.

But, again, we can’t do it without your help. Take a moment today and back our initiative. I promise the monies will have a positive impact on education and help break the barrier of the four walls of the classroom, get students excited about engineering and help pave the was for future classrooms that are nto test-centric but learning centric.

BACK THE CAMPAIGN TODAY!