[sudo-discuss] kids doing science at the Bay Area Discovery Museum (BADM) near San Francisco

http://qz.com/726442/in-san-francisco-preschoolers-can-now-learn-stem-with-… A few weeks ago, at the Bay Area Discovery Museum (BADM) near San Francisco, 5-year-old Jack Stabenow climbed a step stool to peer into a machine that cuts cardboard with a high-powered laser. The red beam precisely followed a squiggly building design that Jack had just finger-drawn on a tablet computer. Jack’s goal was to make a building that could stand up to the wind of a nearby table fan. With his cardboard cut, Jack hurried to the assembly area where about two dozen other kids his age labored over teetering, but well-taped, creations. If these first attempts toppled in the breeze, that was to be expected. In fact, back-to-the-drawing-board was kind of the point. The kids were learning the cycle of design, prototype, test, and redesign that’s a hallmark of engineering. The museum staffers were testing a prototype, too. Last month, the museum launched America’s first early childhood “fab lab”—for fabrication laboratory—a suite of digitally controlled fabrication machinery, such as 3D printers, laser cutters, and milling machines. ...