PROGRAMS | STEM

STEM

Students get hands-on in classes delivered in engineering and computer labs, a robotics clubhouse, a girls-centered makers space, and a life sciences lab. YDO staff demystify STEM while YDO Kids build valuable skills and confidence, design innovative projects, and develop into creative thinkers, independent problem solvers, and self-directed experimenters.

YDO STEM offers a continuum of courses after school and during the summer, for students beginning in 3^rd Grade. Term after term, year after year, students tackle new disciplines, build new skills, and transition from taking STEM courses to teaching them. YDO STEM offerings are organized around three foci: Robotics, Life Sciences, and MakeHers.

Robotics 

Starting in 3^rd Grade, the youngest students take foundational classes that are project- and team-based, like Intro to Coding, Mission Solve It: Engineering Solutions, Intro to Tools & Building, Math Games, and Micro:bit Magic.

As they build new skills, YDO Kids transition to more advanced courses such as Coding for Robotics, Intro to 3D Design, High-Tech Building, and Intermediate Micro:bit. YDO is also home to the Llamatics (for Lawrence, MA) robotics team, our  middle school Botball^® competitors.

And, once in middle and high school, many YDO Kids transition from STEM student to STEM student teacher, helping deliver beginner courses to younger students following in their footsteps. 

Scientific Inquiry

At YDO, science is fun, mysterious, and exciting. Afterschool classes are hands-on, team-based, and include Biology, Animal Adaptations, Pathology, Chemistry, Artsy Science, Anatomy, and Breaking the Glass Beaker. Some courses are geared toward elementary schoolers and others are for those in middle school. And, across the program, older YDO Kids often teach classes to younger ones.

MakeHers

MakeHers courses empower girls and gender-expansive youth, in Grades 5-8, to apply math skills and deploy engineering concepts to design and build their own creations in the YDO MakeHers shop. In introductory and advanced afterschool classes, students learn to use all sorts of tools and materials, from a miter saw to a drill to a Dremel to a 2×4. They make everything from candy dispensers to jewelry holders, shelving units to puzzles, and desk lamps to 10-ft. wooden rowboats.