Engineering for Kids Introduces the “B.O.L.D.” Framework to Highlight the Fundamental Parts of Stem Education

The new initiative, which is launching with a variety of marketing and operational resources, will help separate Engineering For Kids franchisees from competitors and other extracurricular educational programs.

“STEM education is no longer a niche offering only available at select schools with significant resources,” said David Riker, Brand President and Managing Director of Engineering For Kids. “Today, STEM is a familiar part of most children’s school experiences, and the B.O.

L.D. model gives us a simple way to explain what makes the Engineering For Kids experience different by highlighting the thinking that goes on beyond our programs and each activity.

Children aren’t just completing a project; they’re learning how to approach challenges, consider possibilities, and develop solutions. We are aligning with modern teaching principles that value critical thinking and problem-solving. These are real-world skills that children need today.”

B.O.L.D. equates to:

• Break Down the challenge: Students will learn how to break down a task into manageable pieces before jumping to a solution.

• Observe patterns: Students will observe what patterns they recognize in these smaller pieces.

• Look at what matters: Students will identify the pieces of a whole that do or don’t work, and use this information to guide the direction they take.

• Design solutions: Children will design solutions based upon the prior information they gather. Then, depending on the success of their design, they will continue to build and refine more complete solutions.

“As a former teacher, I know how important our B.O.L.

D. initiative is,” said Meredith Bolton, Curriculum Development Specialist for Engineering For Kids. “Young people today have all of the answers at their fingertips.

They have become predisposed to focusing only on completing a task, yet we know that the advancements in STEM are filled with challenges and setbacks. We want our students to appreciate the journey while learning and having fun. They will break down problems, observe patterns, look at what matters, and design solutions in a variety of engineering-focused programs that build real-world STEM skills and prepare students for high-tech areas like robotics and game design.

Engineering For Kids will incorporate the B.O.L.

D. effort across its existing educational offerings, including camps, after-school programs, workshops, birthday parties, school partnerships, and community events. The framework will also help the brand more easily communicate the value of its hands-on engineering-related experiences to parents and community partners."