SOLIDWORKS Apps for Kids Hopes to Encourage Pursuit of STEM Careers

As announced today at SOLIDWORKS WORLD, SOLIDWORKS engineers and designers has been busy creating a collection of apps for their own kids to get them excited about design and art with Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM).  The SOLIDWORKS Apps for Kids are the kind of applications we want to use – in a fun, exciting way.

The 6th grade hurdle

If you can get kids interested before the 7th grade, then their chances of going into an engineering or science path is much greater.  We want to get kids interested when they are most impressionable and open to learning new things.

In 2009, the United States Department of Labor listed the ten most wanted employees. Eight of those employees were ones with degrees in the STEM fields: accounting, computer science, electrical engineering, mechanical engineering, information sciences and systems, computer engineering, civil engineering, and economics and finance. According to the U. S. Department of Commerce, STEM occupations are growing at 17%, while others are growing at 9.8%. 

How many of us knew when you were young that design, problem solving, creating things and engineering was an actual thing you could do with your life? We wished we knew that and started earlier, for that reason we created SOLIDWORKS Apps for Kids.

To help encourage kids into engineering

SOLIDWORKS Apps for Kids – starts with what we are great at, creating professional applications to address the different stages of design workflow, and breaks it down into fun bite-size applications for kids to have fun and learn about design, art, creativity, crafts, and more.

SOLIDWORKS Apps for Kids includes:

Capture It

Capture ideas in the form of pictures, video, sound to create inspiration boards (collage/canvas)

 

 

 

Shape It

Create 3D shapes of anything you can imagine

 

Style It

Paint, color and style your Shape It creations and accessorize with scenes and sticker

 

Mech It

Construct fun mechanisms to make things move or to draw amazing spiral art

 

Show It

Show your creations and tell your story

 

Print It

Print your creations in 2D, 3D or one of the fun project-based formats that will change the game of 3D printing

Would you like your child to be part of the Beta program, a unique opportunity to shape the future of the product? For all attendees at SOLIDWORKS WORLD and on the live stream, we would like to invite you to participate in the SOLIDWORKS Apps for Kids Beta in the spring. We welcome your feedback as well as your child’s opinion on how we can make the SOLIDWORKS Apps for Kids better. The release is scheduled for spring 2016 with SOLIDWORKS Education Edition Academic Year 2016-2017.

To register for the SOLIDWORKS Apps for Kids Beta Program, go to www.solidworks.com/AppsForKids