Personalized STEAM Program

Pick a topic, create a project, be a co-teacher! We will help
― Join us to build a personalized learning community, to enrich children’s afterschool & summer!

– How It Works
– Affordable Cost
– Topic Ideas (from Kids & Teachers)
– Online & Offline Learning Pathways
– Successful Cases (Class Videos) & End Results
– The Significance
– Teachers & Advisors

Affordable Cost

This $360 program includes 1 Personalized Course + 10 other Zoom courses (as an audience).

  • The student will have about 4 hours of personalized instructions or tutoring from the teacher.
  • 10 other Zoom courses are from the other children’s final Zoom meetings. Each Zoom course includes 2 separate sessions/hours: brainstorming & final class. 10 Zoom courses will be 20 class hours of learning.
  • Hourly rate per student: $15 per class hour ($360/24 h) — similar to other STEAM programs, but the child gets 4 hours of personalized learning/tutoring from the teacher, which is unique and fantastic.
  • If a student only takes Zoom Courses, $140 for 10 Zoom Courses, the hourly rate is $7 per class hour, much more affordable than most online live learning programs.

How It Works

Conventional education is becoming outdated, with stale subject matter that many children find boring. It still resembles what we’ve been doing for centuries: a teacher plans the curriculum and instructs a class of often passive learners.

We are making a fundamental change to how we approach education, aiming to provide unique learning experiences designed for the student, by the student, and of the student. Each student selects a topic of interest for study as a “passion project.” In collaboration with a teacher and peers, the student develops the project into a “short course”, and it eventually results in a “Learning by Teaching” online class with the teacher, other students, and parents ― the child will become a co-teacher and present the passion project to the class as a fun and interactive learning experience for all. With help from our teachers and advisors, these projects will place particular emphasis on Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, Math (STEAM), English Language Arts, and History

Every project begins with the student sharing a topic of personal interest. It could have a theme of a sport, book, music, STEAM, birthday party, or even a narrower interest like a particular historical event or piece of technology. The student and teacher will follow the procedure in the flowchart below but it could be more flexible.

  • Each personalized course will take about 2 weeks to complete. The student will spend more than 6 hours (usually ~10 hours) on his/her passion project with help from the teacher.
  • The teacher will meet with the student and class for 3-4 hours (including one-on-one meeting) and spend additional hours on the course materials.
  • The final Zoom class of a Personalized Course is ~1 hour, hosted by the little co-teacher and an adult teacher (usually 50%/50% split, but can be more flexible), including the student’s presentation and teacher’s instruction, and other activities such as a quiz game.
  • Students are often overwhelmingly excited to present their passion projects; Ideas from children usually eclipse conventional curricula.
  • The courses delivered by students are often beyond our expectations, and some work even exceeded the quality of courses given by our teachers.
  • Besides STEAM, students’ presentation, reading, and writing skills will be greatly improved with teachers’ help. Children can also gain confidence and develop leadership.
  • We started with Grades 4-8 as we have had the best experience with this age group. If your children are from other age groups and interested in this program, please leave your information here.

Two videos below show a Zoom class example, “COVID-19 & mRNA Vaccines,” co-taught by a 5th grader and our teachers. The 5th grader had the idea to create this personalized course as his passion project. More examples are in the section Successful Cases.

 

Here is a STEM quiz game in the Zoom class of “COVID-19 & mRNA Vaccines” ― a wonderful activity of fighting viruses!

 

Topic Ideas

Firstly, the birthday party theme is recommended: the birthday boy or girl picks his or her most favorite topic. With help from the teacher, the personalized course can be formalized as a virtual birthday party, and the whole class including friends and families will have a great time and fantastic learning experience.

Children’s top favorites (from our current STEAM club): piano, birds, football, bowling, swimming, skiing, ice-skating, Mars rovers, computers, dinosaurs, dogs, drawing, abstract art, glass blowing, American history, World War II, Harry Potter books, Covid-19, mRNA vaccines, element periodic table,…

Suggested STEAM topics:

  • Space: Earth, solar system, Moon, Mars, galaxies, black holes, asteroids, rockets, Apollo missions,…
  • Coding: Scratch projects such as Animate a Name, Imagine a World, Make Music, Get It Fly… Python projects such as Chess, Go, Sudoku, …
  • Cutting-edge technologies: Artificial Intelligence (AI), robotics, machine learning, supercomputers, nano-materials, 3D printing, virtual reality,…
  • Math: history of math, famous mathematicians, applications of math,…
  • Science: physics, biology, chemistry, astronomy,…
  • Engineering: civil, mechanical, electrical, aerospace, computer, environmental,…
  • New Energy: electric cars, solar power, wind power,…
  • Biotechnology: gene tech, biopharmaceutical, stem cells,…
  • Animals: dogs, birds, dolphins, sharks, elephants, lions,…
  • Arts: drawing, sketching from observation, painting, collage, photography, paper art, sculpture, color theory, composition, animation, digital art, mixed media art, …

Online & Offline Learning Pathways

Books, the internet, videos, and AI assistance… Students need to explore, read, write, discuss, and practice. For example, in the course “AI for Image Recognition,” besides online Zoom meetings, children will need to use “PictureThis”, an educational mobile app to identify plants in their gardens or other places and update their findings.

Successful Cases

We have already completed a number of personalized courses based on children’s passion projects and received very positive feedback from parents and children. Our teachers and advisors have also gained great experience in this personalized learning program. Some examples are listed below:

Here is what parents said:

  • “…A lot of great ideas tailored for cultivating children’s interests and stimulating their math curiosity, thanks!”
  • “My girl is excited to share her project with her friends. I believe it will be a great experience for kids as well as parents.”
  • “… It was a wonderful meeting. I got feedback from several participating kids today. They all had a good time. Thank you for arranging such a great way for personalized learning!”
  • “…“It’s the first time we saw her strong motivation in learning that we have never seen before. She even told us that only from this program she has learned ‘real’ things. We definitely support such a learning path.”
  • “We really appreciate such a great learning opportunity for our child. She has been enthusiastically preparing for the course for days. After finishing her 1st course, she is thinking about the next topic. Active learning is much more effective than passive listening in a conventional class setting!”
  • “…I could see how this program inspired my young boy to explore and learn. He loves skiing and picked it as his topic. Then he told me, ‘Daddy, I have brainstormed my skiing course the whole day. I am curious why ski jumpers can land safely…’ Eventually, he has learned Newton’s Laws of Motion vividly by presenting his favorite activity ‘skiing’ to his friends.”

End Results for Students

  • Children were overwhelmingly excited to present their passion projects as short courses to their peers, and gained confidence with speaking skills when talking about a subject they know very well;
  • Favorite topic picking and brainstorming by children and teachers have proved to be very fun and fruitful. Children poured their ideas and thoughts to make the short course highly interesting to themselves — this is what the conventional curriculums planned solely by teachers will never be able to achieve!
  • Children were often positively influenced by their friends’ passion projects, and started to get interested in related studies;
  • Children who showed little interest in core academics were much more motivated and enthusiastic about the STEAM, history, reading, and writing related to their favorite topics;
  • We have found that the courses delivered by students are mostly beyond our expectations. We expect to see more masterpieces when we continue with these students and expand to reach more children ― they are born creators and rule breakers!

In summary, through this personalized learning program the student will:

  • be inspired to pursue his/her interests with confidence
  • learned STEAM with great engagement
  • cultivate curiosity, creativity, and imagination
  • improve public reading, writing, and presentation skills
  • build communication skills and teamwork spirit
  • develop and demonstrate leadership

The Significance

Young children are naturally curious and possess innate talents and unique abilities. School-aged children attend thousands of classes throughout their 12+ years of formal education. But for most students, not even one class is geared towards his/her personal interests, unique talents, or learning style. We turn children’s individual interests into personalized learning experiences that allow children to explore their favorite topics as they relate to Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, Math (STEAM), English Language Arts, and History ―such an educational approach is highly recommended by MIT Dean of Admissions (the video below) and Tesla and SpaceX founder Elon Musk.

We believe good learning comes from good teachers, better learning comes from practice, and the best learning comes from teaching something to others (from Nobel prize-winning physicist and distinguished educator Richard Feynman: Feynman Learning Technique). Learning by teaching also gives children the opportunity to express themselves in a way that cultivates self-confidence and presentation skills.

Teachers & Advisors

We are a diverse team of educators including school teachers, college students, STEAM professionals and parents, bringing years of experience as teachers, tutors, and advisors to this special program. And we have already gained great experience on this personalized learning program within our current STEAM club.

 

Mrs. Lisa Lee (teacher) is an adjunct professor of mathematics at a college in New York. She received her Bachelor’s Degree in Aerospace Engineering and a Master’s Degree in Mechanical Engineering. She was an Engineer for General Electric Company and a high school math and physics teacher. Mrs. Lee has a passion for math and science education and enjoys sharing her knowledge with students and fueling their enthusiasm for math and science.

Mr. Will McConnell (teacher) is a senior at Harvard University studying Math & History. He is excited to be teaching our children and willing to share his passion for both disciplines. Will has been teaching and tutoring classes and students for 4+ years on different subjects including math, science, and history. With a flexible and motivational teaching style, Will loves connecting with students and giving them the confidence to do their best work.

Ms. Iris Pu (teacher) is our Robotics and Coding teacher. She is currently a sophomore at the University at Buffalo studying Electrical Engineering. She was a member of the Shaker High School Robotics Team. Her team won the NY state FIRST Robotics Competition regionals and got to the semifinals at the World Championships in 2019. Iris is excited to bring the wonderful world of robotics and coding to our children. Iris is also a sculptor, sketch artist, graphic designer, and avid writer.

Ms. Olivia Goolkasian (teacher) is a science and art teacher for grades 3-8. She graduated from New York University with a Bachelor of Arts and Science and she is also pursuing a Master’s degree of Fine Arts in Illustration. After studying chemistry and studio art at NYU, Olivia has taught science at the elementary and middle school levels in the past 6 years. She has enjoyed teaching art classes during summers as well as incorporating art into learning about nature and observation.

Mr. Nick M. (advisor & teacher) is a credentialed educator in the state of California and before that he had tutored for many years. He enjoys discovering what inspires his students and leveraging it to fuel their developments. He is a process-oriented educator who believes that exploration and inquiry are key components of a positive learning experience.

Dr. Mary W. (advisor & parent) is a scientist with a technology company. She got his PhD from Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and has worked in the STEM field for more than 10 years. She has two children and believes that personalized education is the best way to enrich children’s learning experience. She will actively advise our program based on her STEM expertise and parenting experience.

Dr. David L. (advisor & parent) is a principal engineer with an industrial company. He obtained his PhD from the George Washington University and has since worked on research and development of advanced sensors for 20 years. David holds 45 US patents and has a passion for innovations to positively impact people’s lives. He actively gives back to the community by volunteering at the National Science Bowl competition, leading a Youth Public Speaking Club.

Dr. Albert H. Liu (coordinator, advisor & parent) is the founder of this program. He has been an engineer with a Silicon Valley company and a scientist in a tech startup. He got his PhD from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in New York, and has worked in the technology areas for 15+ years. Dr. Liu’s passionate interest in science and technology led him to create a STEAM club in his children’s school district which he has been administering as a volunteer for more than 4 years. He loves sharing his passion for STEM with children and has initiated this personalized learning program.

Mr. Jackson P. (financial advisor & parent) is an IT Director and a managing member of an investment organization. He earned his MBA from Clarkson University and continues to nurture his interest in business through entrepreneurship and investment. As a father to a young boy, he strongly believes in fulEDU’s mission and is excited to help the team by serving as an advisor with a focus on finance.