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Wednesday, June 19, 2013

Young Scientists: Hacker Scouts


Hacker Scouts

I recently heard about Hacker Scouts, and was very excited to learn more and to start a guild in my hometown.


Hacker Scouts is a national non profit organization, founded in the Fall of 2012 in Oakland CA, that focuses on STEAM (science, technology, engineering, art, and math) education, skill building and community engagement with the aspiration to help our children develop skills in the areas they are truly interested in, abilities that would allow them to dream big and create big. A variety of experts and mentors from the community ensure a well rounded and high level of attention and skill building for all ages through accessible programs that meet the different needs of our young makers.  Hacker Scouts provides open source material and a support program for Hacker Scout programs globally.

I saw that there was a Hacker Scouts Open Lab MeetUp scheduled at Ace Monster Toys on the 1st and 3rd Sunday of every month from 2-5pm.  I took my boys last weekend.

They chose to do the project Crash Test Cars which was being taught by Lance Akiyama from The Workshop for Young Engineers and they loved it!

The challenge was to design a car that can keep an egg (passenger) safe under normal driving conditions and in the event of a crash.

There were a variety of materials out to choose from.


Here are my boys hard at work on their cars.


Ready to Test


Here we go!


Success!


Last Minute Preparations


Here's the Test


It was so much fun, and I am even more excited to get a Hacker Scout Guild for my boys.

PS:  If you live near El Cerritto, Lance from The Workshop for Young Engineers offers Summer Camps.  Based on this experience I would highly recommend them.

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