Young Innovators: AI, IoT and Robotics

The course has 32 one-hour classes over sixteen weeks. In the first three months, every class ends with something that works: a game in C, a data simulator in Python, a light signal on an Arduino, a connected classroom monitor, a camera that sorts objects, and a robot that avoids obstacles on its own.

Each class follows the same plan: a five-minute warm-up, fifteen minutes of teaching, twenty-five minutes of building, a ten-minute challenge and a five-minute recap. Classes are held in a computer lab, with a computer for each learner and the lesson on a large screen.

Learners work in pairs and swap roles every ten minutes, so each one both builds and checks. A learner who needs more help can take a "Helping Hand" route through a task; one who finishes early can take a "Level Up" challenge.

In the fourth month, teams of two or three choose a project, such as a model school crossing that warns pedestrians, a sorter for recycling, or a classroom station that suggests when to open a window. They pass a safety check, build a prototype, test it at least twenty times, improve it from the evidence, and test again. Each team makes a poster, a talk of three to five minutes and a short written report, and presents at Showcase Day to the instructors and the group's families.

You see something new built almost every week, and the instructors check progress at classes 8, 16 and 24. At the end, your child keeps the team's poster and report.

After the course, if your family wishes, we can suggest science fairs or student conferences suited to your child's grade. Entering is your choice. Eligibility, awards and publication are decided by each event, and we cannot promise them.

The fee. The course fee is $800 for the four months. Every family in these first two groups pays half: $400. You pay $300 at the first class and $100 at the first class of the fourth month (Thursday 28 January 2027), in cash to our staff in the office beside the computer lab, or by Zelle.

The course teaches and practises how to explain algorithms, variables, conditions, loops and functions in your own words; write and change beginner programs in C, Python and Arduino code; and build and fix safe low-voltage circuits that go from a sensor, to a controller, to a motor.

It also teaches how to collect, chart and read data and notice when a result cannot be trusted; how a simple AI model is trained and tested on pictures of objects, and why it makes mistakes; and how to plan a fair test, present the results and answer questions about them.

Every activity follows the same cycle: predict, build, test, explain, write down. We do not promise a level of skill: each learner works at their own pace towards working projects they can explain.

Nothing. Your child needs to be able to use a computer and a mouse. No coding or electronics experience is needed.

Nothing. We provide the kits, and the computers are the lab's; everything stays in the room. A class may suggest a short task to practise at home; it is optional and needs no account.

Tell us when you ask for a place what would help your child. A learner who needs more help can use templates, pre-wired parts and simpler steps. A learner who cannot do fine wiring can direct a partner who does it, and that counts fully. Ask us for a class's notes in large print.

We use low-voltage educational kits only, with no mains wiring and no soldering. The instructor checks every circuit before it is first switched on, and anything warm is unplugged. Batteries go in only when the instructor says, and come out after class. Robots are tested first with their wheels lifted, and run only on a marked course. Learners wear safety glasses when the instructor asks. Cameras point at objects, never at people. We photograph your child only with your permission.