Bridging the STEM gap: How one business is enriching the science, technology, engineering and mathematics needs of students With ten years of teaching experience and three master degrees, Peter Margolis, owner of West County Lego Robotics, knows how important it is for today’s youth to be competitive in the 21st century and, according to him, the way kids will be able to compete in higher education and in the business sector is to be exposed to the sciences. Unfortunately, in many schools throughout California the view on science has become that of a minor subject with little focus given to it, according to Margolis, which is what lead him to start his company. By Jeannie Howard “We are a traveling engineering and computer science laboratory,” he said. “I bring everything, including laptops and complete kits. The kids bring nothing but their enthusiasm.” In his classes, students, in teams of two, get to build and operate a real robot. “We have a full curriculum that is all lab based, which means it is all hands on problem solving. The students build the robots out of Legos. The robot itself if a small computer,” he described. “In order to make the robot travel the students have to program it.” 26 MARKETPLACEcontrac osta .com august 2015
Contra Costa Marketplace - Aug 2015
To see the actual publication please follow the link above