Thanks for all your support getting our campaign off to a great start! We’ve received such positive feedback from so many. In this update we focus on why we’re developing curriculum for 21st century learning.

We created Lectrify because we are firm believers of the benefits hands-on learning. As parents and educators, we also understand that personalized instruction requires projects and lessons that allow students to “deep dive” into concepts at their own pace of learning. Our products are designed with the curricular philosophy of “low floor, high ceiling” developed by MIT professor Seymour Papert (http://www.papert.org).

We are designing a broad suite of curriculum to accommodate open-ended learning and making by focusing on three pillars to our curriculum:

• Quick Start - Encourage immediate engagement with the core concepts through hands-on use of the kits. We designed components to fit with LEGO and craft material because they are accessible and appealing.

• Creativity and Invention - For some students, creativity drives learning and we provide support and examples to enable inventions to soar.

• Applied Math and Science - While the circuits may be relatively simple, they provide an opportunity to understand and derive core concepts every engineer should know. We include the circuit diagram on each board for students to get familiar with circuit basics.

Our goal is to design authentic learning experiences for students and educators. We think it’s important to make the raw materials visible on our boards so that even beginners start to get exposed to them. Clif Fonstad, MIT Professor of Electrical Engineering ensures that our circuit boards are accurate. Here are some of his handwritten notes to help us understand the science behind the Nitelight circuit:

Notes from Professor Fonstad on the Nitelight circuit.

We hope you have some insight into our design philosophy. Stay tuned for more updates on our manufacturing process, Very Useful modification projects and curriculum development!