STEAM Studio 2.0

FUSE will partner with DYN and Hive Chicago leadership to design and implement a weeklong, intensive design experience for high school aged Chicago youth. From July 21-26, 2014 teens will engage in a series of STEAM-focused design challenges inspired by partners from the fashion and design industries. These STEAM challenges will provide opportunities for teens to explore, create, and share their experiences and artifacts in different STEAM content areas. Experts from our industry partners will be on-hand during this workshop to mentor teens and will adjudicate the design challenges at the culmination of this experience. Winners of each design challenge track (i.e. fashion, jewelry, graphic design) will “level-up” to a unique opportunity working with the corresponding design studio after STEAM Studio is completed. By the end of the STEAM Studio experience, youth will have developed a small portfolio of STEAM-focused individual designs through participation in one of three design challenge tracks: 3D jewelry design, fashion design, or graphic design. Additional challenge tracks may be developed as new industry partnerships and mentors are identified. Through these challenges, teens will gain STEAM-related knowledge and skills, such as design thinking, computer aided design (CAD), graphic design, and important 21st Century skills such as problem solving, communication, collaboration, and creativity. Badges awarded will align with these knowledge sets and skills. In addition to the intensive Design Studio experience for this smaller group of teens, FUSE will support the development and implementation of an Open House component to STEAM Studio. The goal of the Open House is to engage additional Hive Chicago organizations in STEAM Studio, and provide opportunities for a larger number of youth to participate for a single afternoon, instead of committing to a whole week. FUSE and DYN will seek to engage at least 3 other Hive organizations to participate in the Open House. FUSE will also offer a subset of their interest-driven challenges (www.fusestudio.net/challenges) during one of the Open House sessions. STEAM Studio will utilize diverse technologies for both the Open House and Design Studio components. These technologies include, but are not limited to: • Adobe Illustrator • Adobe Photoshop • SketchUp (3D CAD program) • Makerbot 3D printer • Vinyl cutter • Digital photography • Social media & blogging tools This project will support Hive Chicago’s goals through: • Enhancing CCOL by provide interest-driven STEAM learning through challenges that improve knowledge and increase skills through a real-world setting • Demonstrating and showcasing the HO-MA-GO framework and connected learning model • Recognizing teens’ new skills through badges that are endorsed by professional mentors • Explored and identified deeper connections for youth among Hive programs • Leveraged the Hive’s investments in its partner organizations to create innovative learning pathways for teens from across Chicago STEAM Studio will offer Chicago teens an opportunity to further hone their skills and interests – which may have been initially learned at school -- in a real-world context (working alongside professional designers). This project will also help teens develop new interests that they can continue to refine through arts and technology courses in school and through other out-of-school time learning programs available through CCOL and Hive Chicago. (655)