Youth Programs
Forward Enrichment
Creativity
Critical Thinking
Communication
Collaboration
Programs (More to Come)
Winter Offerings:
Game Experience and Simulation:
Come and explore selected games (board games, apps, online, printable, etc.) and related design, science, and engineering concepts. Each session will have guided discussions on selected topics.
Bilingual Read and Play:
Participate in social learning experiences that the instructor facilitates using selected activities from books/articles/websites that you can explore further at home or for a class project. Some conversational Mandarin experience is required as the class will supplement with Mandarin vocabulary, summary, Q&A, and oral presentation exercises to support bilingual learning. The topics covered include improvisation and stories, creative bricks/LEGO builds, product or game design, artistic palette for earth, and STEAM in the news.
Technical Presentation with a Twist:
Have you started or completed a cool school STEM project during the semester and want to get additional feedback and inspiration to refine and expand your inquiries on the topics? Maybe you also want to drill on the presentation skills or change the format for a future show-and-tell? Let's do it before the holidays!
Summer Offerings:
Read and Play:
Participate in social learning experiences facilitated by the instructor using selected activities from books/articles/websites related to the theme that you can explore further at home or for a class project.
- Board Game and Simulation
- Science and Engineering Video Production Planning
- Creative Bricks/LEGO Challenge
- Investigating Product or Game Design
- Craft, Make, and Think in 3D
- Artistic Palette for Earth
Technical Presentation (TED-Talk style OR Mini-Lesson):
Select a STEM topic of interest to research, write, present, debate/persuade, and give/receive feedback to improve your technical presentation skills.
Fall Offerings:
Design Project for Paper Packaging & 3D Crafts:
We will learn about the design thinking mindset and apply the process of empathizing with stakeholders to frame the design challenge, ideation, prototyping, testing, and iteration to complete an individual or group project that focuses on health promotion messages. Guided contextual inquiries of selected topics prepare students for design opportunity identification before hands-on activities and digital tool introduction (e.g., manual/digital design of packaging or 3D artifact prototypes). There’s room for bringing in your artistic skills, too!
Technical Presentation and Debate:
Select a STEM topic of interest to research, write, and present in either the TED Talks style or a mini-lesson format. Practice giving and receiving feedback to improve your technical presentation skills. We will also engage in a thoughtful debate to deepen our understanding of aspects of the topics, especially when there are uncertainties, controversies, and/or ambiguities around a complex phenomenon or trend.
Arts and Crafts for STEM:
Participate in social learning facilitated by the instructor using selected STEAM activities related to the theme each day (Video Production, Creative Bricks/LEGO Challenge, Product/Game Design, Simulation/3D modeling, Sustainability); you can explore them further at home or for a class project. Each session will have time for an overview and student show and tell.
Creative Adaptation with Improvisation:
Imagine, plan, and create a studio performance as an adaptation of a movie/book/short story! We will explore voice and movements as well as solicit ideas and creative expressions for a theatrical composition with improvisation exercises, writing, and discussions. It's a space for discovering your appetite for shaping creative narratives while building confidence and developing communication and collaboration skills.
Spring offerings:
Design for Thinking and Communication:
This course will introduce Design Thinking at a foundational level as a mindset and a design process to help students cultivate the perspectives needed to develop creativity, critical thinking, communication, and collaboration skills. Themed inquiries are structured to provide contexts and prepare students for the design opportunity identification and creative problem-solving exercises. Students will learn about the human-centered design approach to problem-solving and gain the experience of applying the process of empathizing with users/stakeholders, framing the problem, ideation, prototyping, testing, and iterating solutions to complete a group project. Following the hands-on group works, discussions, presentations, and receiving/giving feedback are essential parts of the projects for students to practice articulating one’s point of views and effective listening for better collaboration.
Creative Composition Workshop:
In this course, students will hone and increase the range of communication and collaboration skills through improvisation exercises, discussions, composition, preparing and delivering an informal theatrical performance, as well as receiving/giving feedback from/to each other. We will explore a topic agreed by the group and apply the concepts of analysis (why), reprocessing (what), and engagement (how) to formulating a positive change story in the form of a group performance. Improvisation exercises are selected to support the development of empathy, open-mindedness, and self-expression. We will explore voice and movements as well as solicit ideas, reactions, reflections, and creative expressions through words, media, and theatrical composition before using these materials to shape stories that are meaningful to students themselves. When exploring the narratives of oneself and others, students will practice identifying similarities, differences, and possibilities.