Listen to this articleThe COMPUCHILD franchise offers Entrepreneurial STEAM™ (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Math) focused after-school enrichment classes primarily to pre-kindergarten and elementary school children in the United States and Canada. COMPUCHILD’s programs help kindle the spirit of constant learning, innovation, critical thinking, and collaboration for the social good at a very young age.
Q: Could you provide our readers with a brief introduction of the COMPUCHILD Franchise?
A: The COMPUCHILD franchise has been providing STEM and STEAM based after-school enrichment programs to children at pre-schools, elementary schools, after-school centers and various other venues since 1994. Initially, we were focused on educating children about computers, hence the name – COMPUCHILD. Over time, we broadened our mission to offer all kinds of STEM programs for children. Furthermore, as researchers recognized the value of art in teaching various STEM concepts, we found it prudent for our franchise to focus on STEAM. Most recently, we have expanded the scope of our enrichment programs even further by creating curricula in entrepreneurship. When we talk about our focus on entrepreneurship, we do not mean offering after-school classes just on starting a business. Rather, we focus on the four key building blocks that we believe are key to becoming a successful real-world problem solver and entrepreneur. These building blocks are: technology, financial awareness, communication, and ethics.
Q: What’s unique about COMPUCHILD franchise’s focus and philosophy?
A: We realize that advancements in technology have catalyzed a fast-changing society. We believe everyone needs to keep learning new skills constantly to stay professionally relevant. It takes an open and entrepreneurial mindset to enjoy and thrive in a fast-changing environment. If you look around, technology has been driving significant innovation in multiple facets of our lives. Financial awareness is a must for making sure that every innovation is economically viable. Communication is critical to building a team and motivating others to work on any interesting and new idea. Last but not the least, ethical considerations are key to deciding whether any innovation would be socially responsible or not. We want to expose children to entrepreneurial thinking right from the beginning, so they do not find it hard to change quickly and adapt to newer technologies and ways of thinking. COMPUCHILD is proud to be the unique children’s education franchise to introduce the concept of Entrepreneurial STEAM™. We believe seeding a positive entrepreneurial mindset will truly enable children to shape a better future for our world. COMPUCHILD’s mission is to nurture ethical and entrepreneurial children through after-school enrichment.
Q: Can you provide us some insights into COMPUCHILD’s after-school enrichment programs?
A: As I mentioned, we offer multiple programs on topics related to technology, financial awareness, communication and ethics. For example, children build fun model toys using LEGO® pieces in our Introduction to Machines class for pre-school children. As children build and play, we are able to help them understand how the simple machines that they use in their projects, such as levers, catapults, axles and wheels, allow us to build larger, more complex systems. In our LEGO® Robotic Engineering program, elementary school children are able to build fun movable models that can be programmed using a computer. This is an interesting way to introduce children to machine parts such as pulleys and gears while teaching them simple programming logic. Other programs, such as our Impactful Blogging, Stop Motion Animation, and Video Game Creation are part of our communication focus. Like our technology programs, these programs are also hands-on, project-based and involve constant participation. Lately, we have observed a growing trend to introduce children to programming languages at an early age. However, we have not seen much focus on logic and critical thinking, which we believe are fundamental skills necessary to becoming a good programmer. Our unique Logic and Critical Thinking programs make use of proprietary team-based games and quizzes that students actively participate in. Finally, COMPUCHILD also offers Ethics focused programs that are based on the Socratic Method of learning, which keeps students fully engaged.
Children having fun while building and programming a robot
Q: Which new programs can we expect from COMPUCHILD in 2021?
A: We are constantly working on developing interesting and relevant programs. Our research shows that financial education is virtually non-existent at the elementary school level. With a focus on introducing children to basic financial concepts, we plan to roll out two new programs to promote financial awareness among elementary school children. Another area of interest is data science, which has been growing in significance due to its applications in science and engineering. We plan to launch a new program that will introduce children to understanding data and its significance at an elementary level. Another interesting program that we expect to launch is a course on video game design, in which children will be able to create their own game and play it with their friends. We definitely have a lot planned for 2021.
Q: What’s the best thing about COMPUCHILD’s enrichment programs that people might not know about?
A: I have been a children’s librarian, and I work closely with members of my team who have a strong educational background and experience in curriculum development. Our experience tells us that the method by which something is taught plays a very important role in how well students receive the information that is presented. Various research publications have highlighted the benefits of multi-sensory teaching methodologies. As an example, studies have shown that children who focus on building robots learn technological concepts faster than they would in traditional lecture-style formats. Researchers have also found that children who are exposed to multi-sensory activities are more likely to quickly absorb new information and retain it for longer. The fact that multi-sensory activities activate “whole-brain” learning makes these techniques beneficial for all students, regardless of their learning styles or personal challenges. The best thing about COMPUCHILD’s after-school enrichment programs is that all of our classes have been designed based on the principle of creating a rich, multi-sensory learning environment for our students, which is our unique differentiation. With this instructional method, children build a love for learning — a foundation that lasts for a lifetime.
Activate Social Media:
