Everyday STEM Saturday

Everyday STEM Saturday is a hands-on enrichment program that introduces middle schoolers to computer science, cybersecurity, robotics, engineering, and career exploration in a single engaging weekend session. This first session uses BBC micro boards to teach physical computing: how devices sense, process, decide, and respond to the world around them. Students spend the morning building executive-function skills, exploring cybersecurity basics, and learning core programming logic before applying it all to a real design challenge: building their own Smart Safety Device. They leave with a working prototype, a taste of the engineering design process, and a clearer view of STEM careers.

• Physical computing and beginner programming with micro boards: sensors, inputs/outputs, and IF/THEN logic
• Cybersecurity awareness, digital responsibility, and computational thinking
• The engineering design process, including executive function and mental performance skills

• Explain how a microcontroller senses, processes, decides, and responds to the world, using basic programming logic and pseudocode
• Program, debug, and improve a micro board project using sensors, inputs, and outputs
• Apply the engineering design process to a real project and identify STEM careers in physical computing, cybersecurity, robotics, and engineering

There are no prerequisites for this class. No prior coding experience needed: all micro boards, computers, and materials are provided.