Peggy Healy Stearns, software designer for Fab@School Maker Studio will be presenting at FETC 2018 on Wednesday, Jan. 24 at 3 p.m. in the STEM Theatre Booth 1805. 

Prime the STEM Pipeline: A Practical, Affordable Onramp to Making

When: Wednesday, January 24, 2018: 3-3:30 p.m.
Where: STEM Theatre Booth 1805

Discover how schools nationwide are using practical, affordable software and hardware to introduce digital design and fabrication to young learners. The maker buzz has been around 3D printing, but these classrooms are successfully embracing a low-cost alternative – paper and cardstock, inexpensive digital cutters, and easy CAD software – to introduce teachers and students with little or no background to digital design and making. Learn how students K-8 engineer unique projects from simple to sophisticated including pop-ups, 3D objects, and working machines. This web app also supports a range of advanced devices from 3D printers to laser cutters so users can enter the process wherever they’re comfortable and budgets allow. Leave with ideas for curriculum integration and grant funding opportunities. This work is a research-collaboration with the University of Virginia, the Reynolds Center, the Smithsonian, and Princeton with funding by NSF, US DOE, Cisco, MacArthur, Morgridge Family Foundation, and others.