Parents are the secret to unlocking an education revolution…
Defining Our Point Of View
by Sasha Serafimovski
You as a parent may have seen Sir Ken Robinson’s famous speech about how schools are killing creativity ( it has been watched 38m times!)
https://www.ted.com/talks/ken_robinson_says_schools_kill_creativity?language=en
In a sentence, the world is changing so fast, and schools are struggling to keep up with pace of change.
At Brainiac.Club, we believe that…
…the best way to prepare our children for the 21st century is to get them thinking creatively and entrepreneurially about the future trends and technologies that will inevitably shape their lives and careers.
But how do we as parents help them explore things like Drones, Artificial Intelligence, Robotics, Virtual Reality, Mindfulness, Collaboration, Communications, Design Thinking, etc? Do we even know how to guide them in these important new areas of the economy?
Here’s my story…
I am the proud father of two boys, aged 10 and 15, both now at most excellent schools, both doing really well, both pretty happy. However, the journey into secondary school has been full of stress and anxiety that has made life more difficult as a family. The reality is… lots of mock exams, lots of tutoring, lots of sample test papers. All this stress has ultimately taken the joy and intrinsic motivation that should be at the heart of learning!
As an entrepreneur sitting at Google Campus and seeing all the young people who have finished their universities (or not…) and are dreaming of changing the world with their start-ups, I started wanting to change the world a bit too.
Let’s do something really fun and rewarding and important for out children, I thought.
The penny really dropped when I saw the 1.August 2015 cover of the Economist laminated at the headmaster’s office at my son’s school;
We started Brainiac Club a few months ago, thinking that there are lots of other parents who are struggling with the same reality of watching their children disengage from learning. We want to bring back the magic and amazement, that brings together families from across the world.
In creating Brainiac, I have been joined by some exceptional people who are all at the forefront of their areas of expertise. Most of them are young, and have recently been at top universities and want to change the world, and they all feel that school is not properly preparing us for the 21st Century.
Check it out on www.brainiac.club
For example, The team behind Curiscope has just reached 2,500 families with their virtual reality T-Shirt that will enable children to embark on a virtual reality tour of the human body body, sort of like Isaac Asimov’s Fantastic Voyage but in your own home!
https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/the-virtuali-tee#/
We are helping the Curiscope team create the deliver the learning that comes with their T-shirts and app.
We will be doing the same with PiCopter, a 3D printed drone that your children will learn to design, build AND programme. Here is taster video from our fist session with Marten, some children, parents and even grandparents;
As we were getting into the car, my son said this was a night he would always remember the rest of his life.
Matt K, Parent and Technologist
Highlights from that event can be seen here;
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ja48ucJWl3w
And if we make it in time by 17 May, we can help our young Brainiacs submit their drop projects to Google Science Fair, where they may have a chance to win both prizes and accolade on a global scale. Check that out if you want to have a go.
Call to Action
In essence, we would love to sign up 40–50 families over the next few weeks and some young curious minds, aged 10/11 to 16/17 . We would hugely appreciate your feedback on the Brainiac.Club proposition as a £1 a week learning club looking at learning adventures in the world of technology as our starting point.
Our line up for may and into the summer holiday is here;
And we would love some introductions to schools. We can show up with VR kit and 3D printers at no cost to the school, for a couple of hours of fun and exploration. Everyone wins, we believe.
Any one who who would like to get involved or drop me a personal note, my email is sasha@brainiac.club and I will get back to you ipso pronto. My mobile is +44 (0)7734115601
Thank you for helping us make it happen!!
Sasha & BrainiacClub team
