The Long Beach Public Library and the Signal Hill-based nonprofit Dramatic Results have partnered for the second year to provide a free weekly educational event for middle schoolers at three libraries across Long Beach.
The SEED (STEAM Ecosystem Expansion Demonstration) Creativity Lab centers around the collaborative problem-solving method called “design thinking.”
Kids will learn to work together to come up with solutions to problems and will hear from multiple guest speakers from their community, including educators, artists, journalists and more. Students will be introduced to printmaking, mural painting and other creative disciplines while using collaborative problem-solving skills to overcome any obstacles they may encounter.
For their final project, SEED Creativity Lab students will be asked to design a product, experience or system their designated “client” is facing.
“Ultimately, we are hoping to cultivate creative problem solvers who can identify and define real world problems in their community—expressed through humans—really focusing on what the humans in their community are experiencing and then solving for a problem,” said Yesenia Perez, a Long Beach Public Library staff member.
By Friday, Sept. 22, around 40 kids had already signed up for the program, said Gabriel Gaete, a project coordinator for the Long Beach Public Library.
This project was made possible by grant funding Dramatic Results received from the United States Department of Education. The grant funding should last for multiple years.
Each week, there will be 25 spaces at Billie Jean King Main Library, 20 at Mark Twain Library and 15 at Harte Library. While children are encouraged to come to all the sessions since lessons build upon each other, they can attend as few as they want.
The SEED Creativity Lab will be held every Saturday until Dec. 16 from 9 a.m. to noon, at the Billie Jean King Main Library, Harte Neighborhood Library and Mark Twain Neighborhood Library. The lab is open to sixth through eighth graders.
thanks for info