As summer fades into fall, we’re reflecting on a special partnership that made this a truly meaningful and memorable season. We’re talking about Tween STEAM!
For the second summer in a row, we expanded our EdExchange professional development program into several branches of the Austin Public Library system. We teamed up with APL for Tween STEAM, a fun, free summertime program designed to engage local students and combat summer learning loss.
Tween STEAM was a unique opportunity for tweens and teens to explore STEAM subjects in an immersive environment with Thinkery staff. Participants explored and tinkered with circuits, Makey Makey, littleBits, stop-motion animation software and wire wearables in five different 90-minute programs.
And it was a huge hit! In all, more than 730 students attended a Tween STEAM session at one of 19 participating APL branches (14 returning branches and five new branches!), with many families traveling to multiple branches all summer long.
We had a blast creating, connecting, collaborating and bringing STEAM into our community. Thank you, City of Austin GTOPS program, Dell and Capital One, for making this innovative program possible.
