Welcome to STEM Education Inc, a place to dream and jump onboard for adventures in education!

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All funds contributed to STEM Education Inc.  will go to the establishment of educational opportunities for children in the United States and our current project known as the STEM 4 Kenya Educational Outreach.

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                      Kenya Enterprises for Youth Success: 

                                      The Awaken Warriors 2018 Calendar

                                       is now available in the book store

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Colorado After School Programs Starting up NOW.

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Welcome back to school. STEM Ed is starting up our after

school programs. Please contact Kathy

at kathy@stemeducationinc.org to find out if there is a

camp near you. We offer LEGO Clubs, Weekend Camps,

FIRST LEGO League Teams, Winter Camps, and Spring

Break Internships. 

 

 

 

 

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Engineering and Robotics SUMMER CAMPS ARE On the way for 2018!!!

 

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Four exciting, week long camps to choose from...attend one or all four!

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Kenya

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​A Bit of History...

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In the summer of 1998 we stumbled upon a box sitting on the shelf at an educational store with a name of MINDSTORMS Robotics and a website for FIRST LEGO League - FLL (www.usfirst.org/fll ). Already actively involved with creating new and innovative ways to engage children in problem solving activities at our school, it was an instant fit and our journey into FLL robotics competitions was launched. We knew we had to start a team because of the intrinsic value we saw in FLL as an avenue for hands on, project based education.

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We registered two Colorado teams with the national office of FIRST...there were three teams in the whole state...we were two of those three. For the first four years of competition, we traveled to LEGO Land in California so our kids could compete because Colorado did not hold official FIRST tournament in those beginning years. Now, because of multitudes of volunteers and corporate sponsors there are 250 teams in our home state alone! That first year, there were about 700 teams around America. This year, there will be almost 30,000 teams worldwide.

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In 2011, while he was in the United States, we had the privilege of an introduction to Dr. Peter Keiyoro of Kenya. Dr. Keiyoro is Vice Chairman of a committee established by the Kenyan government with a task of finding solutions for the reform of Kenya education, bringing it into the 21st Century. During a hastily scheduled meeting in Atlanta, we took a MINDSTORM robot, who performed as a true gentleman if I might add, and other LEGO Education products we see as instrumental to helping establish solid STEM/ICT programs for children.

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Within the hour, Dr. Keiyoro said, "WE MUST HAVE THIS IN KENYA!" He asked us to come and I told him that Kathy and I, "...don't know how we'll do it but we will come." Through several meetings that some would call coincidence, a proposal was drafted...an unexpected sponsor solidly onboard, and now we are going to the children and teachers of Kenya! Beginning in 7 pilot schools to launch project based programs using LEGO Education materials, our five year plan seeks to infuse the Kenyan educational frontier with hope and solid tools for a brighter, creative and problem solving based opportunities for the kids.

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This is just the beginning. We would love to have you join the LAUNCH team in this safari...a hunt that will capture opportunities for a reformed and dynamic education system for the children of Kenya. Then...hang on...we're on to another country!

 

 

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Kenya Educational Outreach

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Introduction and Implementation of 21st Century Educational Programs for Students of Kenya

through LEGO Education Products and Services

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Kenya, a young and beautiful country, has long recognized the need to provide STEM opportunities for their youth. Several years ago,  under the leadership of Dr. Peter Keiyoro, Chairman of the Kenyan government’s Committee for Educational Reform, a task force was commissioned to evaluate methods of providing viable alternatives to their current system of educating Kenyan students.

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Predominately an educational system revolving around a curriculum requiring massive amounts of rote memorization followed by national exams, many in the Kenyan government recognized the need to find and implement programs for the students which would target creative problem solving opportunities. In Dr. Keiyoro’s words, “We need to teach our children how to think.”

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LAUNCH Kenya Education Frontier began to do on site training and demonstration of LEGO Educational STEM materials including robotics in May of 2012.  The goal: Plant robotics programs in schools throughout Kenya then offer tournaments where children can enjoy the challenge of testing what they learn!

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Over a three year period, working with pilot schools in both rural and city areas, assorted STEM educational materials including NXT LEGO robotics were brought to each school. In addition, with each delivery of materials, teachers and students were personally trained in the use of these kits. Enrollment at the schools targeted in the Kenya Educational Frontier range from several hundred students to around 1000. Some schools have mixed enrollment while others are strictly a boys or girls campus.

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Some schools formed robotics classes while some formed after school engineering and robotics clubs. Students were predominately high school aged with some in middle school. Students at the college level who were studying to be future educators in Kenya also met for a full day symposium on Implementing Robotics and STEM into the School.  The goal for each group:

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• At the University level: Introduce future generations of Kenyan teachers to the potential benefits of utilizing mechanized curriculum and robotics in the classroom. The goal is to demonstrate how the use of creative curriculum materials will stimulate their students toward 21st century, creative problem solving. Symposiums will provide hands on workshops in the use of LEGO MINDSTORMS robots. Alongside the robotics will be a demonstration in the use of LEGO Education’s Simple and Motorized Mechanisms kits. Reaching these future teachers while they are still studying the fundamentals of their career will prove extremely valuable toward reaping long term benefits toward establishing hands on STEM programs in Kenyan schools.

• Teachers in the field: Train teachers who are currently teaching six grade through high school students to create STEM and robotics programs for their students. To accomplish this objective, we provided on site training in the use of LEGO MINDSTORMS robots for the teachers at seven Kenyan schools. At these trainings, we had the teachers build and program robots as well as introduce them to Machines and Mechanisms curriculum.

• Kenyan students: Provide hands on robotics workshops for students in sixth grade through high school at seven Kenyan schools. Utilizing LEGO MINDSTORMS, we taught the students to build, program and test fundamental robots.

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The Future of Robotics for Kenyan Schools: 

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To accomplish our goals and establish a long term impact for the Kenyan educational system, we established a network of one or more teachers at a Kenyan school who would serve as program coordinator(s) for the continuation of a robotics program at their school. Utilizing LEGO Educational materials, teacher training and online teacher support, they will build the foundation and operate an ongoing robotics class and/or an after school robotics enrichment program for students at their school.

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If you want to see a bit about Phase 1 of this project, the introduction of STEM materials and a glance at robotics, before training in robotics was offered, here is the link to stream it.

vimeo.com/45280771

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Then in July of 2015, after a long and successful, coordinated effort between LAUNCH and The Green Garden Schools of Kikuyu, students from the original pilot schools gathered to compete in the first Kenyan robotics competition, the 2015 Kenya STEM Robotics Challenge. Under the leadership of Captain Mugo Keiyoro and Alex Kihu, The Green Garden Schools served as the host for this exciting, historical moment for the students of Kenya! 

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We are now going on Season 4 in July 2018 but also we are launching our second FIRST LEGO League Tournament March 2018

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