Explanation: Kinet-X is a 4-week, 3 day a week program which aims to tackle all the issues we’ve seen in STEM education. The curriculum will be broken up into 3 parts: Training, Education, and the Project. The first week is training. Students will select whether they are interested in learning about physical engineering or programming. During that week, students will be given basic information into their chosen field. The goal is to give everyone stable footing, and have them choose the field they want to learn about. The second and third weeks are all education, supplemented with trips and talks from professionals in the tech world. Each day a new sensor or concept will be introduced, combined with tons of hands on activities and accompanying questions. Activities will range from completely beginner level, to advanced- so that every student can feel like they’re learning. The final week will be the most exciting one, the culminating project. Using what students have learned that month, they will come up with and implement a project idea. They will be guided through the brainstorming and design process, and shown how ideas are created. Helping the program will be mentors from professional tech companies, relating their experiences to ours, making students feel like what they’re learning will carry on.
Kinet-X’s only goal is to make a difference. To change the STEM world and impact the future generation. The world needs innovators, the world needs thinkers. As of right now, we’re in severe lack of those kinds of people. But that can, and will change.
Inspiration: Kinet-X was started when three Stuyvesant sophomores were talking about learning engineering. Being on the robotics team, taking in new members and teaching them the basics of robotics was a major part of the team, but it had been a weak point. As more thought was put into it, a startling issue appeared.
STEM was becoming more and more in demand, jobs were growing by the year and the need for innovators and thinkers was growing even faster. However, only a fraction of the population has access to STEM education. Most schools don’t have a solid computer science program, let alone a robotics team. Outside programs came with a massive price tag, which would be extremely unappealing to anyone only interested in “testing the waters” of the engineering world. Even if you could afford one of those programs, the teachers were all much older than the students, and are not all inspired and drien. Some may have forgotten what it was like first entering the world of engineering, and it reflects in the teaching.
Building off of those base issues, so many people are excluded because of this. Just because you can’t afford to pay thousands for a program, doesn’t mean you shouldn’t be allowed to experience the feeling of building your first circuit. Just because you weren’t born male, and exposed to different toys and expectations, doesn’t mean you shouldn’t get to smile at your first code that prints out “Hello World.” That’s what Kinet-X aims to change. It aims to make sure that EVERYONE has the opportunity to experience STEM.
PRIMARY FOCUS:
Robotics and Gadgets Stem or Steam Other Education
INFORMATION
Project Info