What we do
We work with schools to transform their existing summer programs into week-long camps that focus on teaching students how to code or how to design. Teachers choose what they want to teach, get the training, tools, and resources they need to run a successful camp that culminates in students showcasing their work at the end of the week. The tools and skills that students learn don’t stop at the end of camp. They continue honing their skills and sharing their work with students just like them from across the US through our Student Social Network.
Incentivize
Teachers get an immense amount of demands to implement new software, new curriculum, and new teaching pedagogy. As coding and STEAM subjects have grown in importance, they have become another demand for teachers to fulfill. The problem? They don’t get any more time, any more pay, or any reward for meeting all of these demands. While teaching is a passion of love, we don’t think that it’s fair to expect teachers to add another difficult challenge to their already over-loaded plate. 1 in 3 teachers have a 2nd job just to get by. Instead of getting another job, we pay teachers for acquiring 21st century skills and introducing them to their students over the summer.
Equip
Our team has spent years building tools, curriculum, and processes that enable teachers to bring coding into their classroom for the first time. 95% of the teacher we worked with were teaching coding for the first time and had a healthy dollop of anxiety around math and all things computing. However, when the tools were designed around their habits and skills, 100% of the teachers not only successfully taught their class but loved the experience. We learned that when teachers are given the tools they expect, they can teach almost anything. Simple tools such as a “How To Guide” that they can keep going back to and workbooks to help them to structure the class. Most importantly, a scope and sequence that outlines what they’ll be teaching, in what order, and how they’ll be teaching it. Every teacher running a Curiosity Foundation camp gets all of this and more.
Train
Teachers decide whether they want to teach coding or design. After they decide, they schedule an orientation, and start learning the skills they need to successfully teach a fantastic week of camp. Our philosophy for professional development is simple – teachers should be able to do all of the things that they want their students to do. This means, that each teacher will develop a portfolio of work, just like their students. This form of training ensures that teachers are empathetic and can connect to their students frustration as they run into walls when pursuing their own projects. It also makes it easy for teachers to model the skills during camp and have personalized examples of what’s expected for each project that they assign. Training happens online on each teachers schedule. They’re assigned a mentor that keeps up with their progress and helps them get over any hurdles that they may encounter. Their mentor also ensures that they’re doing a good job of pacing themselves.