Little Makers Club
The "Little Makers Club" project will provide primary school children (years
4, 5 & 6) with the opportunity to use their natural creativity and curiosity to build their own electronic and hardware projects such as music synthesisers, "mars rovers" and more.
Students will be guided through a step by step process to gain skills and confidence in using electronics.
Over the course of the Club, the children will have designed and created several projects of their own, culminating in an "expo" showcasing their creations.
We plan to use "Little Bits" an award winning electronics kit with parts that snap together magnetically and are colour coded for ease of use by children. Children can experiment to their hearts content without worrying about getting anything "wrong" or
hurting themselves as no soldering is required.
We need your help to develop and run a pilot program that is available to all students (not just gifted and talented) and can be rolled out to schools across the country.
The Vision - Innovation and Gender
Little Makers Clubs are part of a vision to create positive social change
by inspiring the next generation of inventors in a fun and supportive environment.
The Clubs combines the Maker Movement with learnings in Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths (STEM).
For Australia to stay relevant and innovative in the coming decades, we need to foster the natural creativity in our children, both boys and girls and excitement for science and technology.
The Clubs will be also focus on social and team skills as well as ensuring a good gender balance, essential elements in the modern world.
By making electronics fun and accessible for boys and girls we are doing our bit to keep our children and Australia relevant and innovative!
Our Goal
While electronics clubs and kits already exist, Little Makers Club is focused
on a higher vision. We need your help to make electronics accessible to all students and to set up self-sustaining clubs in primary schools around the country.
By supporting our campaign, you will be helping us to develop and pilot the "Little Maker Club" program.
Help us by
* Pledging money
* Registering your child in a Club
* Approaching a school or vacation care service about Little Makers Club and asking them to contact us. If a school or service isn’t listed, ask them to contact us to get on the list.
* Telling all your friends about our campaign
Spread the Word
* Web:
http://braincrank.info
* Facebook:
http://facebook.com/braincrank.info
* Crowdfunding site: http://startsomegood.com/littlemakers
Rewards
All donors will get an update of the progress of the project. When a Club graduates, you'll get a thank you from the Club and pictures of their creations. You'll know just how hard your money is working!
* Supporter ($10): You love the idea and just want to support it.
* Subsidy ($30): You’d like to subsidise a child from a low income family (you can choose a girl or boy if you want) to join in a Little Makers Club
* Register - One Day Workshop ($60): You’d like to register your child for a Little Makers Club. Available locations, days and times are listed in the rewards. If you'd like one to run in your area get in touch!
* Register - Weekly Club ($90): You’d like to register your child for a Little Makers Club. Available locations, days and times are listed in the rewards. If your school/service is not listed ask them to get in touch ASAP to set one up.
* Sponsor - Student ($90): You’d like to sponsor one child from a low income family (you can choose a girl or boy if you want) to join a Little Makers Club
* Sponsor - Bits ($140+): You'd like to sponsor the purchase of additional bits for the Clubs to use.
* Sponsor - Course ($600+): You’d like to fund a complete ten week course for ten+ students at a location of your choice in Sydney.
About
Julian Lee is the founder of
BrainCrank. He has a dream to help students anywhere to do their best and saw that many students could easily do this if they were given the right experiences and tools.
He has been a tutor for almost two decades and during this time, Julian noticed that most students were using rudimentary study techniques that were limiting their potential. In response he developed a workshop to teach robust study techniques using just a
few simple steps.
As a tutor, he also spent time talking with his students about issues relating to what comes next, how to apply for jobs, prioritisation and general "what to do in life" questions. BrainCrank offers short courses that will provides tools for students of any
age to do these more effectively.
With Little Makers Club, Julian aims to bring smart teaching tools and an excitement for learning to primary aged children giving them a headstart in life.
Tipping Point goal
