IEEE Women in Engineering Magazine - June 2015 - 24

appreciate the "prettiness" of a Zome
construct. Maybe its beauty can be
framed in reference to its symmetry or
its overall geometry.
"It's very important that we not be
off-putting to the girls," Rapoport says.
"I was very much a tomboy, so if you
had done a spa science class, I would've
rolled my eyes. That said, there are definitely people on staff and that is the
way they got into science-making their
own perfume or hairspray."
This is where the "A" in STEAM helps
a lot, Houh mentions, referring to the
more recent introduction of the arts to
the STEM acronym.
"We don't want just art in general,
but art married with technology," Houh
explains. "Frank Geary couldn't do what
he does as an architect without a massive amount of technology. Artists are
leveraging the technology in really interesting ways."
With all of the different interests and
personalities, figuring out how to market courses in order to appeal to the full
range of boys and girls has been a challenge. A workshop motto is "to meet the
kids where they're at," but first you need
to get them to enroll. Houh and Rapoport learned early of the importance of
a course's title. Naming a creative, stereotypically girl course "Doll House"
as opposed to "Model Home," for
example, means the difference
between attracting only a certain type of girl versus attracting a much wider audience to a
course full of CAD and soldering.

Einstein's Workshop founder and co-owner Henry Houh, left, aimed to build a techie
community center.

wasn't good at it until she took the CAD
and 3-D Printing class. "She went from
'Math is so boring, I hate math,' to 'I love
math, math is awesome,' because she was
seeing the application," Rapoport recalls.
Based on the success of older kids in
the CAD and 3-D Printing program, the
staff at Einstein's Workshop wanted to
teach it to younger kids, but the tools are
only appropriate for middle school age

and up. Kids need to understand the syntax of the language-based program and
also need to know geometry and algebra.
Instructors began evaluating tools
for teaching younger kids, but when
none were quite appropriate, they
decided to build their own. ("We are very
lucky," Rapoport says, referring to a staff
that is made up of innovative software
developers and engineers.)

3-D Printing
One class in particular-CAD
and 3-D Printing-has had
remarkable success, and Houh
and Rapoport talk about the
class with great enthusiasm.
For kids who sign up, this class
can be transformational. "You
can take something that you
think about and then physically
hold it three hours later," Houh
says. And then you are hooked.
Rapoport tells the story of a
ninth-grade "techie" girl who
did not like math and swore she

Einstein's Workshop is a 7,000-ft2 play space where kids of various ages can get their
hands on all things STEM.

IEEE women in engineering magazine

june 2015

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of IEEE Women in Engineering Magazine - June 2015