U of T student-instructors gathered Sept. 27 with some of their young charges from an innovative camp they helped run this past summer.
The Big Ideas: Creativity, Design and Innovation Camp is meant to develop the next generation of business-savvy, science-literate entrepreneurs.
The camp, which ran for the first time this summer, drew 450 youth from across southern Ontario to various provincial universities. About 100 of those campers came to U of T for an in-depth experience in applying engineering and technology insights to business challenges.
Campers learned how to put themselves in someone else’s shoes and identify what users of technology need, and how to prototype a project to meet those needs. Finally, they learned how to develop a business strategy for making ideas and products successful in the real world.
The Big Ideas camps were developed and run by the Institute for Competitiveness and Prosperity (ICP), the Rotman School of Management at the University of Toronto and Actua, a national charity that engages youth in STEM (science, technology, engineering and math).
The Sept. 27 gathering was a celebration of the camp’s success, and included the Honourable Gary Goodyear, Minister of State for FedDev Ontario, which funded the camp.
Micah Stickel, Chair, First Year and Senior Lecturer, Electrical and Computer Engineering, helped coordinate the three undergraduate and graduate student-instructors through U of T’s Engineering Outreach Office (ESOO). The ESOO team delivers a wide variety of interactive pre-university programs to engage youth in science, technology, engineering and math, year-round.
“Having students think creatively about designing solutions to problems is a great experience,” said Stickel. “And age 10 to 13 is a good time to get them thinking about the needs of others and how to best address these needs through innovative ideas.”
But the learning is a two-way street.
U of T’s ESOO model is meant to give students opportunities to serve as confident and enthusiastic role models, which enhances their abilities as teachers.
“As an instructor, I was able to develop my communication and facilitation skills, while gaining the satisfaction of inspiring youth in the field of business and entrepreneurship,” said third-year Mechanical Engineering student Michael Lucky (MechE 1T5).
As former Dean of the Rotman School of Management and current Chair of the ICP Professor Roger Martin noted, the question that sparked the camp was “can we teach a young audience, as young as 10, the core elements of innovation?”
“Now that it is up and running, and we see that these kids are fully engaged, we have an answer. Yes, of course we can,” said Martin.
The ICP is an independent, not-for-profit group that serves as the research arm of Ontario’s Task Force on Competitiveness, Productivity and Economic Progress. It is supported by the Ontario Ministry of Economic Development and Innovation.
The University of Toronto’s Engineering Student Outreach Office (ESOO) seeks to engage youth in STEM. ESOO designs and delivers a host of interactive pre-university programs taught by our undergraduate and graduate students. Outreach programs foster the engagement of pre-university students – particularly among underrepresented communities. The programs also play an important role in enhancing Engineering students’ abilities as teachers.
