玛丽维尔的CA2项目扩展到了实体空间, 让年轻的心灵为一个开放的未来做好准备.

Inside a space once known for dozens of retail stores and a robust food court, 玛丽维尔正在帮助圣. 路易斯地区的孩子们为未来的职业生涯做准备. 9月, the University opened its Interactive STEM Studio inside the reimagined Chesterfield Mall, 离玛丽维尔的校园不远. The pop-up space next to The Cheesecake Factory is stuffed with LEGOs, 机器人, drones and other supplies where kids ages 4 to 16 hone their creativity along with their science, 技术, 工程和数学技能.

The project demonstrates the University’s mission to be a force for good in the community, 史蒂夫·考克森说, 教授和执行董事 玛丽维尔获取和成就中心(CA2). “主页非常兴奋，”Coxon说. “We’re able to offer classes that are a really good value with phenomenal teachers and provide a lot of access for kids around Maryville’s campus.”

快速采纳好想法

The STEM Studio’s inaugural session includes more than a dozen evening and Saturday classes, 在上学期间为在家学习的学生提供服务. A combined 200 kids are taking advantage of the studio’s offerings for a fee of $90 for six once-a-week classes. 这个想法源于玛丽维尔市颇受欢迎的夏季机器人夏令营, 招收了1人,去年夏天有100个孩子. Coxon和Angelina Moehlmann, program director for the CA2 elementary school science and robotics program and the STEM Studio, 想要服务更多的儿童和青少年. They also aspired to make use of camp materials — including literally millions of LEGOs provided by a $250,000 grant from the toymaker — for longer than just three months a year. Moehlmann located the inexpensive mall space, and they pitched the idea to the administration.

“主页很快就得到了批准，”Coxon说. “Maryville是一个快速实现好想法的城市.” Coxon and Moehlmann worked with STEM Studio Associate Director Dustin Nadler, 博士学位, and Coordinator Gretchen Roberts to make their vision a reality. The process included a bit of dirty work as they cleaned up debris to make the dilapidated space habitable. “这是非常亲力亲为的，”Coxon说.

Keeping it hands-on is also a key component of the lab’s classes. 按年龄分组, 年轻人学习为机器人和无人机编程, 创造视频游戏和虚拟现实体验, 建造摩天大楼和桥梁. It’s nothing like school — no tests, grades or red-pencil corrections, according to Moehlmann. “It’s loud and busy, student-driven and play-based,”她说。. “You have a buy-in from the kids when learning happens through the actvities they’re doing rather than a teacher just doling out information.”

即使他们很享受, students are honing their problem-solving skills and spatial abilities while engaging in high-level processes, including design thinking and prototyping — all components of the modern workplace. “在一个瞬息万变的世界, no one can predict what jobs will actually exist by the time these kids enter into their careers,Moehlmann说. 仍然, 不管未来是什么样子, 了解如何与他人合作仍然是必不可少的.

“What we’re doing gives them not just the hard skills but the soft skills, 太喜欢协作和沟通,”她说。. Giving kids the chance to maximize communication is particularly important right now, 根据考克森. 大流行期间, 许多人被隔离长达两年之久, 失去与他人互动的机会. STEM Studio classes are designed to meet each child where they are, 考虑到社交技巧的差异, 先验知识, 学习方式和大脑连接. All in all, the lab provides high value at no cost to the University. Class fees and money collected from events such as birthday parties are used to pay teachers and meet other expenses.

成功“异常”

STEM Studio instructor Tarren Fritz enjoyed a decadeslong career as an elementary school teacher. Fritz likes to teach STEM skills in combination with storytelling. 当向年幼的孩子介绍无人机时, she shows the children how to program them to perform simple tasks such as going forward or backward or making a square. Then, using LEGOs, they build a setting for a dramatic storyline. “It might be that there’s a forest fire and we need to rescue some horses,” Fritz said. “And then we’ll talk about the parameters of the fire and the limitations and constraints of the drone.”

Another of Fritz’s lessons marries classical art with math and engineering. Kids work to recreate a Picasso or Monet using LEGOs to form the shapes, 这幅画的颜色和纹理. Fritz loves the open-ended curriculum- planning that’s possible only in a non-school setting. “We’re not beholden to standards and we don’t have to meet any certain criteria,” Fritz said. “主页的课程是基于公众的兴趣和想法.”

马特·辛克莱老师, ’23, enjoys seeing his students work the steps to meet a challenge such as creating a new video game level using Mario Maker design tools. 他们眼睛一亮，可能会说, ‘Oh, I can really see myself getting into this and doing this when I’m older,’”辛克莱说。. Sinclair enjoys encouraging kids to use their imagination as well as their intellect. 在他的龙与地下城课上, students learn how to design effective dungeons and create memorable characters such as believable good guys and proper villains.

作为奖励, Sinclair likes helping kids take an interest in something that can assist them in making and keeping friends. Sinclair说道:“游戏是一种很棒的社交方式. “就像, maybe I don’t have a great excuse to hang out with my new coworker, but I know he plays Call of Duty and that’s something we can talk about.” Sinclair applauds the University for expanding its popular summer program into a year-round endeavor. “I feel like that’s a huge thing with Maryville,” Sinclair said. “It’s like, ‘Hey, we succeeded — now how can we succeed exceptionally?’”

Coxon和Moehlmann展望未来, 他们设想一个永久的, STEM工作室的独立空间. 他们希望设立一个奖学金基金. Moehlmann hopes to serve kids coming in for school field trips and Scouting excursions while also expanding their slate of regular classes. “Just as we ask kids to tinker and develop their ideas in our classes, 这就是主页正在做的编程,Moehlmann说.

NOTE: This article originally appeared in the Fall/Winter 2023 issue of Maryville Magazine.