THE SIMETRIS INSTITUTE INSPIRES CHILDREN AND YOUTH IN THE USE OF TECHNOLOGY, ENGINEERING, SCIENCE AND MATH.
The Blue Workshop is a technology and science center for children. We have successfully delivered technical and scientific challenges for children and young people to the local area for the past 8 years. Blue Workshop stakes a claim for innovation and creativity, offering in-school, after-school and other events throughout Slovenia. In the last year we conducted more than 130 workshops for more than 800 children.
WHAT DOES THE BLUE WORKSHOP WANT TO ACHIEVE?
To inspire children to contribute to breakthroughs in science and technology.
Blue Workshop is a center where children and young people find resources and support to meet today’s challenges in science, technology and mathematics. We want individuals to come together regularly and work on projects that could hardly ever be accomplished at home or at school. In addition, participants are exposed to advanced 3-D printers, laser equipment and robotics sets. Children and young people play, create and test their ideas, discovering and developing their abilities and interests essential for their own career paths.
HOW DOES BLUE WORKSHOP WORK?
We use scientific curriculum tools for Innovation.
The Blue Workshop is based on the classic “Taxonomy of Learning Domains” –Methods for promoting higher forms of thinking, such as analyzing, and evaluating concepts, processes, principles rather than just remembering facts and passing tests. In this context the modified Bloom taxonomy described below has consistently proven its value to generate creative thinking and excitement.
1. Factual
Children learn facts, memorize details, familiarize with “the stuff” they will be working with.
2. Analytic Relations
Relationships are key. How are robotic arms, software programming, artificial intelligence, and “pure facts” of human existence related? What is the “bigger picture” that is required to imagine something new? What is the “common language” that the children will employ?
3. Creativity
The Blue Workshop challenge is to bring all of these ingredients together to create NEW and USEFUL ideas.
4. Entrepreneurial Solutions
Innovation solves problems. Innovation gives birth to sharing. Sharing feeds excitement, within Slovenia and beyond. Excitement provides the motivation to commercialize products and services. The Blue Workshop commitment is to turn first-hand, powerful experiential learning into real-world solutions — from the hands of our children.
