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

[Jake]

http://qz.com/726442/in-san-francisco-preschoolers-can-now-learn-stem-with-3d-printing-and-laser-cutters/

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.

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