I was thrilled for the opportunity to teach STEAM to young learners in Brooklyn, NY!

STEAM aims to strengthen students’ foundational learning by enhance their critical thinking skills and recognize the intersection of art, science, technology, engineering, and math. STEAM in the classroom gives students the opportunity to learn those skills every day. Inquiry-based science is filled with hands-on investigations that allow students to develop critical thinking and cooperative working skills.

Being that Fortimize provides Salesforce consulting services to the Financial Services industry, I thought it would be great to develop some basic skills in coding and technology. Partnering with Brooklyn Rise Charter School, I worked with 4 classes making up over 90 students in kindergarten and 1st-grade.

We used a cipher tool with hieroglyphic imagery related to the alphabet to decode hidden phrases and then write hidden words for one another to crack. It was a fun-filled day building a new understanding of how codes can be written and the types of skills you have to develop to perform coding as a career. 

The best part of my day was the end of each class where students left fulfilled in accomplishing an activity that could way day impact the future of technology and their excitement of being able to code. You’ve got to start somewhere and that somewhere was the STEAM classroom at Brooklyn Rise with Fortimize for these young learners!