Youth Classes
Empowering young minds to create, code, and innovate — because the future belongs to those who understand how technology works
Energy Classes
Energy is critical to how we live, and it’s good for young people to understand how it works. We create course where students build hands-on energy projects and scientific experiments. They include:
Creating solar-powered toys, like model cars and clay creatures.
Creating a solar updraft tower that illustrates how hot air rises
Storing electricity generated by solar panels to be used later
Looking at how colors and angles affect solar panel output
Check out the video below on our solar energy class for elementary school students, in partnershiop with MMRTI.
We are also developing additional material around electricity, batteries, and energy generation.
The Software Development for Kids Project
The Software Development for Kids (SDK) project was created to give middle and high school students the chance to experience more than the learning how to use a commercial software product. The goal is to work with kids — especially from underrepresented groups — to consider careers in the field of technology. We teach creative technology classes that either involve computer programming or some kind of human-computer interface that goes beyond keyboard and mouse. Examples of our classes include:
Creating a Wii Dance Game
Creating a Dance Arcade Game, similar to Dance Dance Revolution®
Computer Game Programming with Scratch
Computer Game Design
Speech Recognition and Language
3D Modeling and Augmented Reality
Since its inception, the program has received funding from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Washington STEM, Broadband Technologies Opportunity Program, Microsoft, the City of Seattle Technology Matching Fund, and the Medina Foundation.
We are working on classes to teach about renewable energy!
Culture and Technology
One of the most exciting parts of the Software Development for Kids project is a new focus on technology classes that incorporate cultural education. The idea is that kids from underrepresented groups may not feel that they belong in the technology industry. By learning about their culture and then incorporating that culture into a cutting-edge technology project, we hope to create an association between their culture and technology. The cultural education is provided by the community, and we provide the technology education.
Videos
Solar Energy Class
Ethiopian Dance Game
Native American Speech Recognition App
Native American Dance Game
