What

What is PCS Edventures Lab?  We are and after school, camp and summer program designed to foster Science, Technology, Engineering and Math in an interactive and engaging learning environment.  The STEM education provided by PCS Edventures Lab allows students to work on hand-on-projects at their own pace and learn fundamental concepts and principals relative to each field.

Our Merit Badge system allows them to keep track of their progression, set and realize goals, and challenge themselves in new and exciting areas.

BadgePyramidImageThe Badge System

  • Students progress in their work through our unique, non-competitive based Merit System, as each student pursues badges in the fields of their individual interest or choice
  • The Merit Badge System is visually represented by a pyramid made up of rows of colored triangles.
  • Each triangle represents a badge within any given discipline of STEM
  • The levels are colored, with the base or introductory level for for each badge being yellow
    • The second level in each badge is orange, followed by purple, blue and so forth, with black representing complete mastery of a discipline
  • Each badge consists of activities specific to that badge, regardless of color level or discipline
    • Activities include projects, challenges, and personal projects reflecting all the student has learned in that badge and those before it
  • In order to “color up” or fill in an orange badge on the pyramid, a student must have two supporting yellow base badges to hold up the orangeThis also allows the student to note how interdisciplinary STEM fields are and gain real world application, for example how an engineer would actually build a bridge
    • This encourages students to work in various disciplines, challenging themselves in new areas all the time
  • Students are given personal I.D. badges to wear during sessions, on the back of which they keep track of their badge work by coloring in their badges or triangles as they progress.

Goal Setting

  • We encourage perseverance, one of 16 Habits of Mind, and have students set quarterly goals, revisiting them throughout the year to guide them in their progress.