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| Issue 4 | September 15,2008 |
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Franchisee Highlight:
Q: What is your most popular class and why? A:School-aged kids love green engineering. The course introduces students to alternative energy sources and solutions, and exposes them to new concepts and issues. Students create solutions to our energy problems. Most importantly, the class provides children a creative release after a long, structured school day. Q: What feedback do you frequently receive from parents and teachers about your COMPUTER EXPLORERS programs? A: This is an easy one. I often hear parents and teachers tell me, “Wow! There’s a lot more to this program than just computers!” I think many parents and educators think COMPUTER EXPLORERS solely educates children about how to use a computer because of our name. They’re often surprised to find out we use the computers as a tool to educate children about all kinds of topics, like solar energy, graphic design, and robotics or cultural diversity. Q: What is your favorite story? A:A number of our students come from different countries, so we often teach children in our courses who don’t speak English. For a while, a student from Germany understood English but could not speak it. By the time he finished our classes, he spoke English very well. When the student returned to Germany with his family, his parents kept in touch with his COMPUTER EXPLORERS teacher, explaining how much the little boy missed his classes and instructors. He still wears his COMPUTER EXPLORERS logo t-shirt. It was amazing to watch him grow through the program. Q: What is the most rewarding part of your job? A:The most rewarding part is the kids — hands down. There’s nothing better than a 4-year-old giving you a big hug at the end of the day. It just feels good! The “ah hah!” moments, when kids understand or learn something new, are really rewarding, too. Q: Do you network with any other COMPUTER EXPLORERS owners? What do you talk about and have you seen any benefits from your conversations? A:Absolutely. I still keep in touch with someone I met during my training class to share ideas and proofread documents. It’s really nice to talk to someone who’s been in your shoes before, someone who’s been through the same experiences. I also network with owners in my area, we meet every couple months. We’re able to tap into one another’s resources; from flyers to LEGO™ kits to teaching and marketing supplies.
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What does your child know that you don’t? I’m willing to wager that everyone reading this article is a digital immigrant – we grew up without the aid of the technology our children take for granted. Even though most of us are in the education business, we cannot rival our students’ ease with computers, social networks, and technology. Can you imagine if adults today had access to advanced communication tools when they were in elementary school? Their global awareness and general knowledge base would have been limited only by their curiosity and sense of adventure, not by where they lived or the size of the local library! “Sometimes children don’t see the relationship between having fun and learning,” said Cyndee Perkins, COMPUTER EXPLORERS director of curriculum and program development. “We try to bridge that gap by teaching the latest technology skills and by using classroom concepts as the content of technology projects.” Blog writing is evolving as one of the premier news outlets today. Let’s face it, millions of people receive their news and information online everyday. While adults use blogs or podcasts on the job or to pursue personal interests, do adults really know how they work? Social media is second nature to many young children. The COMPUTER EXPLORERS program allows children to blog, create Wikis, pod and video casts about historical or current news events to develop advanced communication technology skills. COMPUTER EXPLORERS educators instruct the young bloggers to pick an important historical event such as a war battle, and then blog about the event as if the outcome happened on that particular day. The process benefits children in multiple ways. Students learn how to conduct factual research, organize the information they gather, and put their ideas into a format that is state-of-the-art so they are spreading the news just like a blogger at the New York Times. Today, the focus is teaching children advanced technology tools at an early age. Many adults struggle to stay in the loop when it comes to new technology. Yet, through COMPUTER EXPLORERS, children gain advantages essential to communicating and learning in today’s fast-paced, technology-rich world. Mom and dad can keep learning what they need on the job. But when it comes to the family blog, thanks to COMPUTER EXPLORERS, more parents can turn to their seven-year-old to explore the possibilities.
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Today, students from three to eighty-three at COMPUTER EXPLORERS are getting several advanced technology experiences through video game design, blogging, Wikis, pod and video casting, and Internet research -- skills many adults are just now starting to learn. Scratch, an MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) product, allows children to explore their imaginations through animation development. Young innovators create video game characters, with movement and sound, bringing characters to life – and along the way develop mathematical and computational concepts without even knowing it!