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Last summer, the Crockett Foundation took a group of high school students to Orlando to attend a full-stack development (coding) workshop at Oracle Labs. The field trip was part of the foundation’s annual enrichment trip, which focuses on exposing students to emerging careers in the aerospace and technology fields. Upon arrival, the workshop facilitator spoke with the group leader and commented that the day’s curriculum might be too advanced for this age group.
“If they find the demo too complicated, they might put their heads down. I won’t mind,” he said, explaining the first question of the day. Almost immediately after the first challenge was posed, several hands went up. “That’s right!” “Wow, you guys are learning fast.” Soon, the tone of the workshop changed, as the group of high school students began to master the basics of full-stack development and added a coding language to their skills.
So how do Crockett Foundation students, most of whom attend Title I schools and live in historically underserved communities, achieve such success? The answer can be found in a small but powerful after-school and summer program that sets high expectations to inspire young people to explore technical career paths and become leaders committed to improving their communities.
Introducing technology-driven career paths
The Crockett Foundation’s Coding for Academics (CIA) program began in 2009 at a local high school as an after-school space to provide students with basic instruction in coding languages. Over the past 15 years, the program has expanded to include classroom instruction in general computer science, digital technologies, mixed media, robotics, esports, and web design. Currently, the CIA program has been reconfigured as Digital Explorers, a robust STEAM education program spanning four high schools and serving more than 150 students.
Over the years, our Digital Explorers have visited NASA’s Kennedy Space Center, the Magnet Research Laboratory on the FSU/FAMU campus, and JetBlue University, all as part of enriching field trips that expose students to the vast possibilities and technologies found in the scientific field. Our purpose is twofold: (1) to provide our students with unique experiential learning opportunities and (2) to expand your understanding of future STEAM careers.
Helping students connect multiple disciplines
Often, a typical school environment pushes students to compartmentalize different subjects. Subjects like math and science are often learned in isolation, which makes it difficult for students to form comprehensive ideas across different disciplines. However, we believe that it is crucial for students to understand how each subject influences and connects with each other. This stance can help structure classwork and projects as interdisciplinary tasks that require knowledge from other courses and other disciplines. It can push students to tap into different intelligences and develop the habit of synthesizing knowledge.
We offer an interdisciplinary STEAM education in the Digital Explorers program. Projects such as coding micro-bits or designing web pages require students to apply multiple areas of intelligence and knowledge learned in and outside of school, providing space for students to not only engage in STEAM, but also in overall enrichment and creativity. This year, we have reorganized the curriculum based on four subject pillars to ensure that students try multiple subjects, whether it is e-sports, robotics or shout casting, with the aim of providing a variety of activities. We are currently developing an Artificial Intelligence (AI) course to guide students to better understand the strengths and limitations of Chat GPT in the classroom and its impact on current and future technology careers.
Creating an Exploration Environment
To facilitate our interdisciplinary approach, we believe that the classroom environment should encourage experimentation and imagination. Students should have the opportunity to “play” with technology and be challenged to use their creativity and problem-solving skills. Our instructors are subject matter experts who help guide your explorations by providing scenarios and simulations.
In the eSports course, coaches teach students the basic techniques associated with manipulating characters in video games. In each class, some students are given challenges that may require them to apply their technical knowledge as well as their problem-solving skills. Other students take on the roles of camera operators and commentators and are challenged to provide detailed gameplay broadcasts in a fun and enthusiastic way. Some bugs are fixed. Instead, instructors perfect the quality of the production by providing additional information about the equipment and its features.
This exploratory approach requires a learning environment that is conducive to flexibility. Four years ago, we partnered with School Specialty to build our Innovation Lab, and they have been extremely helpful in providing us with new ideas and continually reinforcing them. The furniture we installed is movable, multimodal, and comfortable. This environment has helped us create a “no-judgment zone” where students can make mistakes without consequence.
Walk into one of our Crockett Foundation Innovation Labs and you’ll see couches, movable chairs, and even just cushions on the floor for students to sit in circles to foster a sense of collaboration. This modular furniture, smart TVs, laptops, and game consoles encourage collaboration and experimentation while allowing for autonomy and creativity. It may seem chaotic, but there’s an underlying sense of order in the space. While traditional classes often focus on paper and pencils or even laptops, our curriculum focuses on tools and materials that require hands-on learning objects. Along with teachers, students are encouraged to explore by being exposed to new ideas and concepts, fostering curiosity.
The Crockett Foundation Innovation Lab almost always has us asking, “What would happen if we spent an extra hour with our students?” What would happen if they had the right console, an extra laptop, a smart TV, or a drone? What could we gain from the extra investment?
We are getting closer to answering these questions every day. With a strong belief in exploration, experimentation, and education, the Crockett Foundation is able to inspire the next generation of inventors, technology entrepreneurs, engineers and designers, the next generation of innovators and explorers.
Dr. Matias Arellano, Crockett Foundation
To support the Crockett Foundation through donations, volunteering or partnerships, visit www.crockettfoundation.org.
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