LEARNING WITH LEGO’S

Many parents and educators are finding that LEGOs–those beloved, floor-cluttering toys–are helping kids develop critical skills while having an awful lot of fun! For younger children, playing with LEGOs assists with fine motor skills development. They learn how to assemble and take apart the bricks, which come in varied shapes and sizes. During play, the small twists and turns of their hands, fingers, and arms build strength, coordination, and dexterity—key skills required for handwriting, crafts, and independent dressing.

Experts agree that playing with LEGOs helps kids learn how to become innovative and imaginative thinkers. “When kids are building with blocks and LEGOs, they’re using spatial reasoning skills,” says Amy Shelton, a cognitive psychologist and director of research at the Johns Hopkins Center for Talented Youth. Shelton has conducted several block play studies, where children were given a LEGO structure and asked to build a similar one. She discovered that kids who spend a lot of time playing with LEGOs are very deliberate in their movements and generally build from the ground up. While Shelton’s research continues, she says she’s certain that spatial skills learned through block play could soon be recognized as a factor in training tomorrow’s scientists, technologists, engineers, and mathematicians.

CODING WITH DRONES and ROBOTS

Why coding? In today’s digital world, many people believe that coding is a fundamental skill that should be taught like math and reading.

Attracting the next generation of surveyors is a perennial topic in the geospatial profession. I’d like to suggest adding K-12 UAS coding programs to the list of outreach efforts. The sooner students become interested in the geospatial field, the greater the success of attracting them to the profession. It is widely believed that young people’s personalities become fixed to a great degree by the age of 18; waiting until high school may be too late.

Our programs are tailored to engage children in early education and provide a continues to increase in difficulty so that they are continuously challenged. Starting with the OZOBOT where kids learn coding just by using markers to give commands. We scale the program up for middle school youth and teach them how to program aerial drones which provides a general understanding of flight and the terminology that goes along with it. At the high school level we have developed a comprehensive course that will prepare youth at that level to become FAA certified and explore careers in the burgeoning drone industry.

LIFE SKILLS

The term ‘Life Skills’ refers to the skills you need to make the most out of life. Life skills are usually associated with managing and living a better quality of life. They help us to accomplish our ambitions and live to our full potential. Any skill that is useful in your life can be considered a life skill. Tying your shoe laces, swimming, driving a car and using a computer are, for most people, useful life skills. Cyberdyne offers Like Skills Coaching classes for Elementary through High School. Teaching students about conflict resolution, goal setting, decision making skills, college prep, career readiness programming and more.