The face of education is changing rapidly to meet the demands of modern enterprise and industry. Just over the last few years alone, there have been new CCSS (Common Core State Standards), Next Gen (Next Generation Science Standards), and we have seen the rise of STEM and STEAM and their variants, some focusing on art, some on architecture, some on the design process in addition to science, technology and math. There has been an emphasis on computing to meet the needs of a digital society and the computerization of many functions that used to be done by people. On that score, a recent study suggests that almost half of US jobs will be computerized within the next 20 years! Banking operations are already there, and medical records and clinical trials, fraud detection, and stock trading are already there too. Another area of intense interest in education has been robotics, which involves engineering design, programming, machining, and electronics and is used in everything from filmmaking to manufacturing. Most recently, UC Davis has provided curriculum, accepted by the UC system as meeting the A-G requirements for acceptance into a UC, which combines mathematics, computing and robotics, and they offer curriculum to develop such integrated learning right down to elementary grades.
At Village Glen, we embrace these changes and have incorporated them into the curriculum in order to ensure that our students achieve at the same level as their neurotypical peers, and that they develop the kind of problem-solving skills that enable them to tackle real world problems and concerns. By involving our students in project-based computer and robotics activities, by using an integrated curriculum and hands-on personalized and collaborative learning strategies aligned with CCSS and Next Gen, students are better able to connect STEM topics with real-world applications, and develop their critical thinking and problem solving skills.

Village Glen Robotics