Nobel Explorer Badges for Intro Projects

Hello, Nobel Explorers! We’re so excited to have you with us starting your journey as a Nobel Explorer!

Aside from tackling some of the most interesting STEM challenges, our intro class will encourage you to learn fundamental teamwork and leadership skills. We defined 7 of these essential skills into specific badges you can earn in the beginning stages of your Explorer journey!

Nobel Explorer Badges are inspired by the World Economic Forum’s top 10 list of skills to have in 2020. These skills set you up for success in the classroom, in work, and in life, and we can’t wait for you to start earning them!

 

Heads-up Honcho

Student uses verbal and nonverbal cues to express active listening.

Showing that you’re not only paying attention to what’s being said but that you’re an active part of the conversation is a skill that is a vital aspect of teamwork. It conveys interest in what’s being said and helps you stay involved throughout the discussion.


Classy Clarifier

Student lets teammates know if he/she understands them or not.

When someone is addressing you directly, it’s important to convey whether or not you’re able to follow their train of thought. If you are, then you’ll be encouraging them, but if you’re not, then they’ll need to know in order to adapt their presentation accordingly. In good teamwork, misunderstandings are dealt with immediately so that everyone can keep up.


Super Summarizer

Student writes down all of the important agreements, ideas, and conclusions in the public chat.

Group meetings are very dynamic and the topics can sometimes change seamlessly as well as at a very rapid pace. By providing everyone with a written record of all the most important moments of the meeting, you’ll allow your fellow explorers to keep track of what’s been said and move the conversation along accordingly. These notes should be taken live and written inside the public chat for everyone to see.


Constructive Colonel

Student helps others learn and grow by providing them with constructive feedback.

This just means that giving and receiving feedback require a certain level of skill! Sharing direct information in a kind, yet encouraging manner is something that needs to be mastered but it’s also the most valuable asset in a teamworker’s toolkit.


Buddy Brainiac

Student applies brainstorming to generate ideas.

Brainstorming is a useful tool to have at your disposal when a challenge requires a particularly creative resolution. The greater the number of different ideas, the wider the choice for reaching a better solution..


“To Do” Trooper

Student identifies tasks and structures them into a to-do list.

Breaking down complex assignments into simple tasks and organizing them on a to-do list allows the team to take on even the most difficult challenges efficiently. It’s the first step to moving mountains, together!


Captain Convergent

Student organizes and structures brainstorming ideas by highlighting the most important ones and grouping together those that are similar.

The true power of brainstorming lies in diversity. But in order to make the most out of these ideas, you need to turn that bundle into a register. Sorting the fruits of your collective expression by importance and clustering together those that are similar provides everyone with a clear overview and makes each session all the more valuable.

Hey there!

You made it all the way to through! We don’t have a badge for this though, but a heartful “Great Job” should work just fine! Now that you’re all caught up with how the badge system works, it’s time to go out there and get as many as you can!

Book a call with Daria, Lead Facilitator, for a deeper understanding of the soft skills badges.

Learn more about Daria.

How Does Nobel Explorers Help Your Child Build Confidence?

Confidence is something every parent wants for their children. However, confidence isn’t a sort of gift we can give them. It’s something that is built.

Carl Pickhardt says that a child who lacks confidence will be reluctant to try new or challenging things because they’re scared of failing or disappointing others. They may feel stressed, anxious, frustrated, etc. That’s why, besides other benefits, we want to emphasize Nobel Explorers’ ability to help build confidence. So how do we help?

Getting to the next developmental stage

Nobel Explorers relies on something called the zone of proximal development (ZPD). ZPD is Vygotsky’s term for:
The distance between the actual development level as determined by independent problem solving and the level of potential development as determined through problem-solving under adult guidance or in collaboration with more capable peers.

In other words, ZPD is the range of skills that a child can perform with assistance but can’t (yet!) perform independently. So what is our role?

Our experts guide students

This is where our experts come into it. By becoming a Nobel Explorer, your child gets a chance to work with a team of highly-qualified facilitators, who help to activate skills and guide the experience.
They provide instructions and tools to students, so while a child might not yet be capable of doing something on their own, they’re able to complete the task with the assistance of the skilled instructor.

HELP YOUR CHILD RISE TO THE NEXT LEVEL

Peer learning

During certain periods of a child’s life, especially the teenage years, they may look to their peers more than they look to adults. Peers can provide valuable knowledge and assistance but also provide a unique comfort level at this age. Therefore, our students don’t learn only from our experts, but also their peers!
In our online STEM camp, students teach and learn from each other. Every student is better at something than the others and knows things others don’t. So, while they’re doing their project, they share that knowledge and skills with other teammates.

Nobel Explorers’ journey in short

In Nobel Explorers, students develop their ideas, solve problems along the way, and generate a product to be proud of. How? At first, students are confronted with new tasks they can’t quite do easily on their own – challenges. Then our experts help them set their goals and provide the appropriate assistance that gives the student enough of a boost to achieve the task. Also, their teammates help them with things they still have trouble with, so everybody within the team acquires and masters new hard and soft skills.
However, as time passes, students need less and less assistance. Eventually, instructions can be removed and students are able to make a website (or to code/ design something else) by themselves. And that is when we achieve our goal – children become independent and comfortable in practicing gained skills!

Our interns made the awesome website!

Giving praise and badges

During the whole Nobel Explorers’ journey, students are welcomed to share their viewpoints and ideas and every one of them is valued. And we love to give them praise (they’ve certainly deserved it!) Not only every completed task but also every effort is followed by positive reinforcement. That makes our online STEM camp a safe and supportive environment for learning and helps a student feel proud of what they’ve achieved. And our favorite praise is badging! So every time our students gain new soft skills, we award them the appropriate badge. That helps them feel more sure of themselves and more confident in what they do.
And when they build confidence in what they’ve done, they feel more comfortable in showing it to others. So they present their project to other teams, families, and friends. In this way, they tame their fear of public speaking. And as the audience grows, their self-esteem and confidence grow!

 

badge

When our students master the skill of giving feedback, we award them this badge, Constructive Colonel. This time, we invite you to leave us feedback (comment below) and The Constructive Colonel is yours! 🙂

The Benefits of Attending an Online STEM Camp

Attending a STEM camp can be a great way to introduce your child to some of the highest-rated professions in modern industry. Moreover, they offer a great opportunity for your child to make friends, have fun, and create amazing memories.

If you’re reading this then you’re probably aware of the importance of STEM education. And while STEM camps can be a step in the right direction for your child’s development, they still come with some downsides. They’re primarily organized in the summer or other times of the year when children are on a break from school. This is tricky because during vacations kids usually just want to forget about anything similar to a classroom.

Also, STEM camps can get very pricey since they include costs such as lodging and travel expenses.

Modern technology may hold an answer to overcoming these particular challenges. Recent data shows that home internet service is available to over 80% of households across the U.S. and rising. This means that attending an online STEM camp might be a more suitable option for both you and your child.

source: GIPHY.COM

We’ve discovered these essential benefits through the work we’ve been doing with Nobel Explorers STEM Projects. If you want to learn more about our story, click here!

Top Four Reasons to Join an Online STEM Camp

1. Explore STEM from the Comfort of Your Own Home

One of the main reasons you should choose online over offline STEM camps is convenience. For starters, it’s cheaper and more cost-effective, one of the basic benefits of online learning in general. It also makes financial sense considering that you’re not paying for anything that isn’t directly related to learning and development.

Secondly, even though your child is getting out of their comfort zone, meeting new people and developing new skills, their home environment will provide them with additional support and ease them into the whole process. They can organize their workstation in a way that suits them best and

Finally, when a child attends an educational camp, parents are usually very much excluded from the whole experience. You’re frequently far away and your chances for catching up are fairly limited. With online STEM camps, you’re always close at hand and informed.

2. Collaborate in International Teams Led by Experts from All over the World

We’ve often mentioned the numerous benefits of international teams and they are all transferable to child development and learning. Collaborating with their peers from completely different cultural backgrounds is probably the best way of acquiring a global perspective. It’s also a setting for children to learn how to respect diversity and other multicultural values.

In an online setting, you’re not geography is not an obstacle. To that extent, another benefit is that your kids have access to experts located all over the world. When organizing a STEM camp, you’re able to choose from a much larger pool of qualified professionals.

This has been one of the strong points of our experience with Nobel Explorers. It’s not just about the fact that we get to work with top global talents who are great at teaching and have a distinguished understanding of their field. They also have relevant experience in working with international teams they can pass on to our Explorers, because that’s how Nobel operates!

maya angelo quote about the strength and beauty of diversity and multiculturalism

3. Develop In an Environment That Closely Represents the Jobs of the Future

In the future, companies will surely look to utilize the benefits of having online teams and remote work. Studies show that working remotely, at least part-time, can have significant benefits for both the employee and the company.

Working in an online environment occurs under a specific set of rules, quite different than you might encounter in an office where you’d work right alongside your teammates. The best way to prepare for a job of the future is to learn, practice, and develop in a context that’s similar to what a work environment will look like 20 or 30 years from now.

Project-based STEM learning allows your kids to acquire the essential skills for the future of work. And children are very much aware of this! This testimonial from one of our Explorers puts it best:

“This project brings people together to prepare them for the future. It helps you with social and communication skills, hard skills, and it offers you a view of how professional teams are working in companies or everywhere.” – Olga N.

4. Stay Connected to STEM Throughout the Year

Because online STEM camps are so flexible and easier to organize, they offer a better dynamic. Activities are spread out through longer periods of time, reducing the possibility that kids become saturated and bored. A system of weekly meetups helps kids maintain their motivation because it’s easier for them to build a sense of responsibility towards their group.

Since online STEM camps can be attended throughout the year, kids can stay engaged with the field longer. Subsequently, they get more opportunities to further specify their interests while the chances of them falling out of love with STEM are being reduced significantly.

Choosing the Right Online STEM Camp

Parents are becoming aware of the fact that there’s something wrong with STEM education in schools, which would explain the increase in the numbers of STEM camps in recent years. When trying to decide which way to go, it’s important to check for certain characteristics. Online STEM camps vary amongst themselves and some don’t offer all the benefits we’ve discussed. Not all of them are international and some even resemble a regular online course more than anything.

But the most valuable thing any STEM Camp can offer is project-based learning. This type of learning gives children the opportunity to overcome challenges through teamwork in a setting that prepares them for the future of work. We’ve recognized this at Nobel Explorers and that’s why we created an entire range of challenging STEM projects which are fun, engaging, modern and relevant.

You should always do some research and try to find answers to questions like what is their educational style, are the topics meaningfully related to STEM, and do their activities fit smoothly with your child’s schedule? Once you’ve understood all aspects of the service and they check all of the boxes, consult your child to see what project or camp would be the most fun for them.

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Nobel Explorers is an online STEM camp where kids solve age-appropriate challenges in international teams by making products that have real-life value.

We have an entire range of engaging STEM projects for you to choose from!

Registration is OPEN!

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Entrepreneurial Skills That Will Secure Your Child’s Future

Having a need to ensure your child’s future is one of the most fundamental characteristics of a parent. We all want to raise them to become independent people, capable of providing for themselves. But the demands of the business world have changed drastically in the last 20 to 30 years and will continue to change in the foreseeable future.

Today’s kids will need to have new tools, methods, and skills to actually be able to sustain their future. There is a strong argument that having entrepreneurial skills will be an essential requirement for the professionals of tomorrow. Things like complex problem-solving, critical thinking and emotional intelligence will increase your child’s chances of stable employment and make their relationships, both professional AND personal, more satisfying.

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The best way to learn how to think like an entrepreneur is to actually become one!
Learn by doing as part of an international team and Start up your own Startup!

Registration is OPEN!

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Top Six Entrepreneurial Skills You Should Encourage in Your Children

Your kids don’t have to be entrepreneurs but they should develop the ability to think like one. These are the top entrepreneurial skills that will help skyrocket your child’s career in the job market of the future.

1. Complex Problem-Solving

The ability to solve complex issues is a desirable skill to have in any profession. Even though the setting may vary, the underlying cognitive skill is universal.

If you look at some of the world’s most famous serial entrepreneurs, you will notice that they’ve often managed to top completely unrelated industries. Richard Branson has made a breakthrough with his record company but was able to excel with his air travel and telecom businesses as well.

People who are good at complex problem-solving can deal with issues they’ve never seen before and overcome them efficiently. The natural shift to agile and flexible approaches in modern companies has been made because the issues they’re dealing with are both complicated and new. Subsequently, complex problem-solving will only become a more valuable skill to have over time.

Entrepreneurial skills are best developed through learning by doing. Children can learn to overcome new challenges naturally, through play. All you have to do is provide a little structure to their games and guide them with open-ended questions.

In the clip below, you can find some strong arguments about the value of teaching kids through project-based learning.

2. Time Management

Time management is all about knowing how to plan, access, organize, and prioritize your daily activities. It’s a precondition for achieving higher productivity and plays an important role in reducing the anxieties of everyday responsibilities.

Being able to plan out a schedule and stick to it is something we consider an important aspect of being an adult. However, we stand to benefit from time management in all stages of our lives.

The daily schedules of our children resemble our own, in a way. They have routines, appointments, and even responsibilities. Unlike us, they’re not making their own schedule. It’s something that we, as parents, do in their stead. We’re helping them make their appointments and school project deadlines, but we’re also denying them the opportunity to learn how to organize their time for themselves.

When teaching them time management, it’s important to acknowledge this dynamic and slowly empower your kids to self-organize. You can start by letting them choose the order of their predetermined activities. Let them experiment and explore their preferences. Do they prefer to do their chores before or after play-time?

The sooner they grasp the benefits of time management the better off they’ll be in their careers. One of the main concerns of today’s workforce is poor work-life balance. People with a good grasp of work-life balance experience lower levels of stress, have a significantly lower risk of burnout and are more likely to develop nurturing family relationships.

3. Resilience

Resilience is a skill that reflects our ability to deal with and sustain ourselves in difficult situations. There’s really no other way of building it other than through experience. In life, everyone gets their share of adversity, some more than others.

Helping children develop resilience is probably one of the most difficult aspects of parenting because we have to act against our parental instincts. It’s only natural for us as parents to want to protect our children from everyone and everything. But life only gets tougher as we grow older. They need to experience hardships on a lower scale in order to learn how to handle the true challenges of adulthood.

Our day-to-day work lives come with a whole slew of adversities. Overbearing schedules, tight deadlines, late-night meetings, workplace conflicts… you name it! Empowering your children with the tools to persevere in difficult situations will allow them to make bolder career choices while preserving their mental health.

Quote about importance of resilience for child development by Arnold Schwarzenegger - Nobel Explorers

4. Critical Thinking

Teaching children what to think is easy. Teaching them how to think for themselves is where it gets tricky.

Critical thinking is the ability to analyze and evaluate facts in order to form a personal judgment. In our work life, critical thinking allows us to reexamine the status quo, identify new issues that need solving, or figure out ways to resolve the old ones more efficiently.

Children should be taught how to analyze and evaluate the world around them, how to spot discrepancies, and above all, question what is being said to them. That last part makes parenting all the more difficult because you’re going to have to use logic and reason rather than just rely on your authority. But your child will benefit because they’ll learn to value what’s being said instead of focusing on who said it.

For younger children, unstructured play is a great starting point. Try not to interfere as much and postpone your involvement. Give them a minute or two to try out different things. If you do decide to get involved, try to lead them towards a solution or show alternative ways for achieving a similar result.

As they get older you can progress to asking open-ended questions, encouraging them to think differently and lastly, exchange opinions while practicing to support your opinions with arguments.

5. Management and Teamwork Skills

Having a strong, solid, and integrated team has proven to be one of the most valuable assets and resources of today’s companies. Therefore, developing management and teamwork skills is crucial for securing a successful career in any field.

Children often stumble upon these skills just by going about their everyday activities. We’ve talked frequently about why sports are essential for child development and team sports have that added benefit of allowing kids to both develop leadership skills and learn how to coordinate with others.

It’s your role as a parent to guide and support their involvement in similar social activities. In the end, any group activity that requires some level of organization and team effort to achieve a goal will be beneficial. Encouraging your kids to try out new roles within a team will help them develop a vast array of skills.

6. Creativity

When we think about creativity, we usually focus on artistic pursuits. That viewpoint is somewhat limiting, because coming up with new ideas, applications, and solutions is an integral part of every aspect of life.

That is why some people differentiate between “big” and “small c” creativity. “Small c” creativity is the kind we use in everyday life whenever we’re faced with a new challenge, important to us personally, whether it’s work-related or not. Even though the solutions we come up with might not be groundbreaking discoveries, they’re nevertheless an expression of our creativity and the ability to think divergently.

There’s a childlike essence to being creative and studies show that children think more divergently than adults. It’s all about being able to loosen up the constraints of the well-established patterns, rules, and norms we’ve acquired through socialization. This allows us to combine concepts in new ways and approach challenges from a variety of angles.

All kids have the capacity to express creativity. Parents need to be careful not to stifle this capacity in an attempt to control socially undesirable behaviors. That doesn’t mean you should let your child draw on your kitchen walls with crayons. It just means you need to help them unleash their creativity in a setting where they’re free to experiment, while also not having to redecorate after their creative endeavors.

Additional Thoughts on Teaching Children Entrepreneurial Skills

The best way to acquire and develop an entrepreneurial mindset is through learning by doing. Since school is not always the most appropriate context, you’ll need to seek out a setting that will allow your child to practice and utilize these entrepreneurial skills.

Your role here, as a parent, should mostly be based on guidance and counseling. But one of the best things you can do for your child is to help them learn that it’s okay to fail. That doesn’t mean they have to like it. It’s perfectly normal to feel sad, frustrated, or even angry when faced with adversity and failure. They just need to have the right perspective. In its essence, failure is just negative feedback. Information that our behavior isn’t working and we need to adjust it to achieve better results. Failure is a component of learning and we need to teach our kids to treat it as such.

It’s important to recognize that most learning activities will help your kids develop several of these entrepreneurial skills at once. For example, if they’re engaging in a group STEM activity, they will learn how to problem-solve, express themselves creatively while trying to come up with different solutions, and learn to collaborate with others, all the while learning by doing.

“Kids need time for problem solving, critical thinking, applying knowledge through project-based instruction, working in teams, falling down and getting right back up to figure out what they didn’t understand and why.” – Randi Weingarten

Best Summer STEM Activities for Kids

When we’re discussing the education of our children, it’s easy for us to just focus on the schooling aspect. We often obsess about getting them into top-level schools and providing them with the very best of conditions for learning.

That being said, school is just one side of the coin when we’re talking about education. But the fact is, by the age of 18, your child spends about 13% of their waking hours at school. Take out a portion of that for school-related activities, projects, and homework and you’re still left with a big chunk of time. And how they’re spending that time will affect the way they’re developing as well.

Engaging your kids in fun learning activities outside of a school setting is just as important for their development.

Why STEM Activities?

When we’re discussing non-academic activities, STEM has plenty to offer. These topics are somewhat related to their school subjects, but most of them can’t be explored in a standardized educational setting.

Through STEM projects, games, or challenges your kids will learn by playing, develop essential skills such as critical thinking, and get an opportunity to express themselves creatively.

Another important reason could be that the popularity of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics is rising, meaning a lot of future job opportunities are bound to be related to STEM. Helping our children acquire the essential skills for the jobs of tomorrow will play a pivotal role in their career development.

Since your kids will be spending much of their time over the summer outside of school, it’s up to you to create a setting where they can pursue their interests and explore new topics. Learning about science, technology, engineering, and math can be lots of fun if you approach these topics in the right way.

Animated GIF - Find & Share on GIPHY

Learning by doing is the best way to learn. Getting your kids hooked on STEM activities and games can be a fantastic way for them to spend the summer playing with their friends and having fun while setting a strong foundation for their future careers.

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Nobel Explorers is an online STEM camp where kids solve age-appropriate challenges in international teams by making products that have real-life value.

We have an entire range of engaging STEM projects for you to choose from!

Registration is OPEN!

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Top Four Fun Summer STEM Activities for Kids

These are our top suggestions for STEM activities for kids that you can put to the test this summer. We picked them out based on the fact they’re particularly entertaining but also give your children a chance to develop skills in multiple areas, both in STEM and in general.

1. Create a Solar Updraft Tower

More and more countries are acknowledging the importance of renewable energy sources. Aside from educating our kids on the value of protecting our environment, teaching them about renewable energy can also inspire them to pursue a career in this ever-growing field.

Solar updraft towers are an example of how scientific phenomena can be applied to use natural processes for generating power. And you can make your very own model by using tin cans, duct tape, a pin, and a hand-made paper fan!

The solar updraft tower uses sunlight to heat air, causing it to move upward, thus making the pinwheel rotate. It’s a simple, cheap, and easy-to-do design. You can experiment by using more cans and creating different propellers of different shapes.

This STEM challenge is the perfect prototype of a cool science project to do on a warm summer day. It’s a great way for them to pick up the basic principles behind renewable energy while testing out some basic engineering principles using basic household items!

2. Design an Obstacle Course

Sports activities are also very important for children. If you can combine STEM challenges with sports to create a fun activity for your kids, they’ll surely benefit in more ways than one.

Obstacle courses are usually great fun for kids. Mostly because they get to spend a day mimicking some of their favorite action super-heroes. But if you include them in the design process it’s a great opportunity for developing engineering skills as well.

In order to gain the most out of the activity, it’s important to allow them to take charge of the process. You can use open-ended questions to spark divergent thinking and pose them with real issues where they can improve their problem-solving.

Building fun obstacle courses is an awesome way for your child to express themselves creatively as well. Let their imagination run wild and go for it!

Quote depicting the power of STEM activities such as obstacle courses for the development of children.

There are countless ways in which you can utilize mundane objects to create challenging obstacles. Taping balloons to the bottom of a desk for your kids to crawl under would be an example. Stick pool noodles in the ground for them to zigzag through, or use swim rings as a running grid. Encourage them to add specific challenges like throwing tennis balls through hoops or balancing a bag of peas on their head.

Lastly, if they’re having friends over, challenge them further by splitting the course into different sections. By doing so, each child will complete one challenge and they’ll have to work together to finish the course successfully. That way, you’ll provide them with a perfect setting for developing teamwork and leadership skills.

3. Humanoid Coding Grid Game

Getting kids into coding often collides with parents’ tactics of reducing their children’s screen time. However, there are plenty of ways you can teach them how to think like a coder off-screen.

One of the best real-life, unplugged coding games for kids is ‘The Humanoid Coding Game’. All you need to do to get started is to design a grid by using painter’s tape or chalk, for example.

The best thing about the game is that the concept is very simple, yet flexible, so you can adjust the difficulty by adding or removing components.

The basic version of the game consists of a small grid, a “coder”, and one or more “humanoids”. The goal is to use simple instructions such as “forward”, “left”, and “right” get your “humanoid” across the grid following a specified path. These instructions resemble lines of code and a set of these lines represents a complete function.

The game becomes more challenging if the coder has to write out instructions beforehand. They’ll be more likely to make mistakes but that makes the game a better teaching tool. Now they’ll have an opportunity to learn by adjusting or “debugging” their code and optimizing it further.

You can always add other features to make the game more difficult and also more fun – for instance, specific tiles which act as obstacles or activate certain behaviors and activities. So if a person stands on the tile marked “crawl”, they’ll have to get through the rest of the grid on all fours.

Once they’ve mastered the basics, encourage your kids to play on a larger grid and use more humanoids. The end game is for them to be able to design their own grid amongst themselves and use these principles creatively.

4. Start a Small Business

Entrepreneurial skills are a huge asset for anyone looking to build a career. Twenty years from now such skills will probably be a common job requirement. The best way to gain relevant experience is to actually start your own business. This summer, you could give your kids a chance to test the entrepreneurial waters!

There are plenty of small business ideas that require minimal investments but will in return provide your children with unique opportunities for development and growth. Lemonade stands are a classic, but anything that encourages them to apply themselves to produce value will work. They can sell other stuff like custom T-shirts or hand-crafted jewelry. And on those especially warm summer days, running a neighborhood car-wash can be a tremendous way to cool down!

The key thing is to make sure your kids go through all the essential steps of running a business. Processes such as planning, branding, or placement apply to all businesses and you need to nudge them towards exploring each and every one.

Planning a budget and handling finances will surely give their math skills a huge boost. If they have “co-founders”, they’ll learn teamwork and leadership skills while solving practical issues.

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Our STEM project ‘Introduction to Start Up Like Silicon Valley’ is the perfect way for your kids to develop fundamental entrepreneurial skills.

They will create their own business from scratch in a global team guided by expert mentors!

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How Your Kids Can Benefit Most from Summer STEM Activities

Each of these STEM activities is a captivating opportunity for your kids to develop relevant skills for their future. Through advanced, structured play they will acquire both technical, teamwork, and leadership skills that will skyrocket their careers!

Your role as a parent in these fun STEM projects is to facilitate their learning by asking the right questions. You should also remember to point out and emphasize important lessons they might overlook. These activities are also fun for adults but the key is to empower the kids to organize their own play in line with their interests.

Adding a specific theme to every activity will crank up the excitement to a whole new level. Just think about the joy of having little Avengers run through a backyard obstacle course they’ve designed themselves. Or the excitement of having junior coders solve a Jumanji-themed maze.

We hope these STEM activities for kids will make this and every other summer a blast! Keep in mind that having fun should always be the main guiding force. It will be a key factor for creating the perfect learning context.

“Play is our brain’s favorite way of learning.” – Diane Ackerman

Four Mistakes to Avoid When Teaching Entrepreneurial Skills to Kids

As parents, we want to provide our children with the best possible tools so they can lead a happy, independent, and successful life. The more tools they acquire, the more options they’ll have for choosing and excelling at a career they want to build for themselves. Academic success is important, unquestionably, and it’s still a significant advantage to this day. But in contrast to the world we were living in 30 years ago, it’s no longer a guarantee of anything. Some things are simply not taught at school, but can still be extremely valuable to your child’s success. Such is the case with entrepreneurship and entrepreneurial skills.

In the job market of the future, entrepreneurial thinking will be one of the essential characteristics sought by employers and valued in the business world. It’s based around a set of entrepreneurial skills that parents can encourage by applying different techniques in different stages of their child’s life. Yet there are certain behaviors and attitudes that parents adhere to which reflect negatively on their child’s chances to acquire and develop the entrepreneurial mindset. These are the absolute don’ts for developing your child’s entrepreneurial skills.

1. Emphasizing the Role and Not the Entrepreneurial Skills

In today’s business world, entrepreneurship is elevated to the level of an ideal, something everyone should strive towards. You get the impression that if you’re not a business owner, you haven’t reached the pinnacle of success. But leading an entrepreneurial life comes with certain downsides. The notion of how great it is to be your own boss has been mythologized to a certain extent and the real story is a lot more complex.

Entrepreneurship is one of those topics that’s riddled with survivorship bias, meaning that the spotlight is usually on the stories of people who’ve made it, leaving out the majority of those who were unsuccessful. Research shows that around 75% of venture-backed companies fail to provide their investors with a cash return, and 50% of startups don’t even make it past their 5th year. Bearing that in mind, it would be equally wrong to conclude that your chances of success are determined simply by the luck of the draw. Companies that have failed did so for a reason and the stats are supposed to underline just how difficult being an entrepreneur actually is.

While it’s probably true that entrepreneurship has its perks, this kind of dynamic, passion-driven lifestyle comes at a price. Entrepreneurs have among the most stressful jobs, which is understandable when you consider the amount of uncertainty that comes with the role. That is why they pay the psychological price. They often work longer hours, either at the expense of having a less developed personal life and getting less sleep. Those who are not prepared to cope with entrepreneurial stress are at risk of suffering from health-related issues, both physical and mental.

Whether or not someone is going to be a great entrepreneur will be determined by an array of factors. It’s evident that quality of life is not purely determined by being a business owner. We need to shift the ideal from being an entrepreneur towards having an entrepreneurial mindset and developing entrepreneurial skills. By doing so, we’re empowering kids to have careers they choose according to their interests, needs, and values.

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2. Accepting Money as a Core Value

Money is a very important tool in our lives but it’s still just a tool. A means to an end, important for fulfilling some of our basic needs like food, water, and shelter. It’s true that it can be of tremendous help when we’re trying to actualize our values. However, it shouldn’t really be one of the core values itself. Having lots of money doesn’t speak to your virtues by default. One of the reasons why it’s not healthy to lend it such significance is because any potential fluctuation in your accounts will be overwhelming.

How our children perceive money is an area in which parents can have a crucial influence. If you overemphasize its value, your child might develop an unnatural connection with it. They might learn to think it’s more important than friendship, community, family, or any other value that plays an important role in a person’s well-being. A study in 2015 has shown that valuing time over money “is related to greater subjective well-being”.

In conclusion, the money-first mindset is very toxic. It’s like a minefield for your mental health. Even if it may seem as though it can help entrepreneurs achieve economic success, it will surely leave a mark on other important aspects of life.

3. Focusing on the Issues (and Not Their Resolution)

There’s no doubt that being able to identify issues is a very useful skill. Entrepreneurial thinkers rely on this skill every day but that’s just the first part of the story. There’s much greater value if it’s combined with knowing how to tackle them. If you’re focused on simply pointing out hurdles, your child will learn to do just that. You also need to pair it with giving them a constructive approach for overcoming obstacles. Otherwise, their contributions in work-related settings will be extremely limited.

They might suffer from other consequences as well. Fixating on a particular issue is an incredibly frustrating experience. If that’s how your child learns to function, they’ll never get beyond feeling frustrated and outraged. They’ll miss out on opportunities to develop confidence by taking an active approach, and they could end up with anxiety as their sole response whenever they’re facing a challenge.

If you ever catch yourself purely venting about an issue to your child, try to take a step back and restructure your story towards exploring potential solutions. Modeling this type of behavior makes it easier for them to attain it and later on portray it in adult life situations.

4. Shielding them from Failure

For a parent, there’s nothing worse than seeing your child feel or get hurt. Failing is followed by hurting and when they fail, they experience a whole rainbow of negative emotions. All of a sudden, we feel this incredible urge to protect them. Still, dealing with negative emotions is a very important part of growing up. It’s the raw material upon which we build resilience, something that we’ll need to rely on later in life because it won’t just keep getting easier. Failing is an important component of growth and is also unavoidable in a work environment. Resilience will allow your child to push on when it’s difficult, while keeping their cool.

But that’s not the only downside of not letting your child fail. By not giving them an opportunity to learn how to deal with feeling sad, or disappointed, or angry, you’re also giving them a false sense of their abilities. You’re creating the illusion that your child is good at doing something when they’re objectively not. This makes dealing with harsh reality checks even more devastating.

This doesn’t mean you should always sit on the sidelines and let your child fend for themselves. If the consequences of their failure are truly endangering you should definitely step in and help. And when you do step in, don’t try to simply remove the obstacle but empower them to get over it.

Conclusion

In order to improve optimally, we need to consider both the dos as well as the don’ts for our situation. It’s probably easier to think about what you should be doing than to critically assess what you’re already doing wrong. That doesn’t make it any less important and in terms of parenting, it’s something our children will be thankful for.

The entrepreneurial lifestyle is a very layered topic. The advantages are very tempting, but they may come at a price, which is all the more reason to put the emphasis on the skills and not the profession. Entrepreneurial skills are and will continue to be highly rated in the future of work and we shouldn’t be a barrier hindering our child’s attempts to develop them. The best thing you can do for your child is to provide them with the tools and let them figure out the best way to utilize them.

Advantages to Working and Learning in a Global Team

Cosmin R. is the project lead and gamification expert for Nobel Explorers. He is the person behind Nobel’s system that rewards students with badges and allows them to track their progress. Cosmin also uses his game design expertise to teach Explorers how to make their own board game. He shares his personal experiences working in a global team and talks about the advantages of having teammates all over the world.

Question: Could you tell us a little bit about your own experiences working in global teams?

Cosmin: I consider myself very lucky because I’ve had plenty of opportunities to experience global teamwork environments. My first IT company had headquarters across the world in places like Canada, the U.S., and in Romania as well, which is where I’m from. It was an opportunity to communicate and work directly with people who shared my area of expertise. I had similar experiences at an international student NGO and while working on many different projects that also depended on the productivity of global teams.

Last but not least, I found my dream job by joining Nobel Explorers, since it allowed me to combine two of my biggest passions: education and gamification. Not only that, but I get to work with people from all over the world in a modern environment while contributing to the education of the next generation of students.

All of my experiences working in international teams have inspired me to seek out these characteristics in my career choices. I’m always looking forward to exploring global teamwork environments, which is one of the reasons I’ve applied to volunteer at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo.

Q: Let’s start with some basics and discuss the characteristics of a global team. What is a global team exactly?

C: Well, you can think of it like this. Global teams are like teams, only global. 🙂
All jokes aside, global teams are not that different from any other team. They’re defined by the fact that they include people from different places around the world. The foundation of the concept is still a team, while global is something that embellishes and adds value to the initial idea. In their essence, teams are teams, no matter where people come from.

Q: Based on your experience, what would you say are some of the biggest benefits of working in a global team?

C: It’s exciting for many reasons. For starters, you get to know and work with top talent from all over the world. You get to meet experts from your domain selected from a global pool, not just those from your local area.

Take my current situation at Nobel as an example. I’m working alongside a hard-skills expert from Serbia, all the while consulting with a leadership and teamwork-skills expert based in the Philippines. With the introduction of global teams, borders and geographical distance are no longer an obstacle.

Working in global teams gives you a much clearer and more realistic view of the world and it’s a great way of overcoming cognitive biases. You learn that the world is not as scary as it might seem if you only experience it through the eyes of the media. Having international colleagues encourages the development of a positive mindset.

Another thing is that social interactions in global teams often result in friendships and it’s pretty obvious why having friends all over the world is great. For example, during my student years, I was able to organize a cross-Europe trip, going from one country to the next, only visiting friends. This is precisely what our Explorers look forward to when they finish one of our projects. Many of them have mentioned that they can’t wait to visit their teammates and meet with them in person.

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Lastly, I believe global teams are the future. Looking at some current trends in the business world and the way technology is evolving, it’s pretty clear that working remotely alongside internationals from all over the world is becoming the standard. It’s the next stage in humanity’s progress and something we can look forward to in the years to come.

Q: Considering the other side of the coin. Do you think there might be some disadvantages or challenges related to working in a global team? Are there ways to overcome them?

C: Global teams are primarily affected by challenges common to all teams. I’d say 90% of the issues simply derive from the fact you’re working as part of a group.

Having said that, there are some challenges specifically related to the “global” aspect. Globally distributed teams are definitely affected purely by the physical obstacle of not being able to share the same room. These challenges have been overcome by advancements in technology, meaning every team would need to have a proper tech setup. Additional benefits can be achieved if team members adhere to an online etiquette, like the one we teach in Nobel Explorers projects.

There are some communication barriers. For instance, some words in different social contexts can have more or less different meanings, so that can sometimes cause confusion within a team. Other misunderstandings could arise from cultural differences. By exploring and learning about these differences, we’re both preventing these misunderstandings and also broadening our perspective.

In the end, every healthy team develops a culture of its own, which concerns things like work environment, values, etiquette, and so on. Building a company culture unites team members and if developed properly, it’s also a great way to overcome cultural barriers.

Q: You mentioned that these teams need to have a proper tech setup. What are some of the tools and software you’ve used to ensure the productivity of a global team?

C: I’ve worked with and tested a lot of different tools and apps. One of the main things you’ll need in terms of software is something that will enable you a face-to-face interaction. My top three picks would be Google Meets, Skype, and Zoom. Another essential tool is Google Calendar for planning and organization of work. Working in different time-zones can be tricky and using an online calendar is a great way to overcome potential issues.

For written communication and document sharing, you’ll need an email service, such as Google Suite. You can take things to the next level by adapting to a collaboration hub like Slack or something similar. These collaboration tools are very valuable for project management because they allow everyone to stay up to date with their tasks and the overall work of the entire team.

Q: What are some basic principles of global team communication and how can we make sure it’s effective?

C: In order to properly function in a global team, each person needs to develop certain communication skills. They are numerous and each of them contributes to effective communication within the team. Some of these skills include things like asking verifying questions, demonstrating that you understand what others are saying, conveying a level of certainty regarding your statement, and even asking people who are quiet to speak up. There are lots of things you can do about improving communication and practice is key.

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At Nobel Explorers, we use a talent tree to track the progress of our Explorers and make sure they’re developing the right skills, both technical like coding, and entrepreneurship, as well as teamwork and leadership skills. One of the branches focuses exclusively on communication, especially in a virtual environment, since all of our projects are done online and in real time.

Q: What are your thoughts on leadership in global teams? Could you share some tips on how to lead a successful global team?

C: Whether you’re going to be a good leader or not will depend on most of the aspects of global teams we’ve already discussed like communication, culture, and etiquette. So dealing with these aspects and optimizing them will be an important part of your responsibilities.

I would say that the basic principles of leadership work for all teams, including global ones. My advice would be to stick to the basics and you’ll do great. Ensure that you’re focused on the right question and that you have a common understanding of the problem. Listen to your team members and ask for their feedback. Empower them to give their best and create a setting where it’s OK to make mistakes.

Q: How can children who have signed up for Nobel Explorers benefit from working in global teams?

C: Online learning itself is a great opportunity but one of its main challenges is that people struggle to keep their motivation. For instance, did you know that only 10% of people who enroll actually finish an online course? So the vast majority of people drop out and it’s mostly because they’re not engaged enough and they’ve lost the initial drive that led them to sign up in the first place.

The fact that our Explorers get to work in a global team reduces their chances of quitting on many different levels. When they work together, they form a bond among themselves and build a sense of responsibility towards each other. They become aware that by leaving the project they’ll also be abandoning their friends and damaging their work. And when things get tough, they’re not alone. They share the bad and pick each other up. It’s an amazing thing to witness first hand.

We’ve also incorporated many different features and methods that increase the motivation of students and allow them to stay engaged throughout the course. They get to work on projects they chose themselves, so that way they’ll surely be working on something they really find interesting. One reason people quit is they get frustrated and can’t overcome a challenge. Each project has a team of expert instructors who are there to help students whenever they get stuck and encourage them to see the project through. Finally, when they finish the project, they have a tangible product with real-life value to look forward to.

The proof that our approach works is in the stories of our Explorers who’ve kept working on their product even after the course is done. It’s very fulfilling to see them wanting to improve their product further and continue working together.

I wish I had had the chance to work in global teams when I was a kid. Meeting cool people from across the world and working on projects I was actually interested in would have been a truly exceptional experience. But I’m also very glad I get to contribute to the cause and help open up opportunities for kids everywhere.

Are Gifted Children Limited in a Traditional School Setting?

Sophie is an academic, test prep, and life coach at Nobel Coaching & Tutoring as well as project instructor and soft skills expert for Nobel Explorers. She is an authority on the topics of developing teamwork and leadership. Through 1-on-1 coaching sessions, she helps students improve both their academic and personal life, all the while learning about the challenges children are facing in the 21st century. Sophie shares her insights on gifted students, their characteristics, challenges they face, and what parents can do to help them reach their full potential.

Question: What does it mean to be a gifted student?

Sophie: The term itself is very much related to and represented in the field of educational psychology, and there are many definitions of what it means for a child to be considered “gifted”. The consensus is focused mostly around the fact that gifted children are those who have really high intellectual capabilities. Other definitions usually build on this in various ways, for example, adding into the mix other characteristics such as talents for specific activities. I myself prefer sticking to the first, narrower version of the definition because I believe it’s useful to make a distinction between “gifted” and “talented” children, since they will be different in terms of their advantages and challenges.

In an educational context, these children are advanced in their general intellectual activity, meaning they are likely to show success across most if not all subjects. They’re going to be good at both math and languages, science and humanities…

Q: So why don’t we just use the term “intelligent”?

S: All gifted children are highly intelligent, but not all intelligent children are gifted. When we talk about gifted kids, we assume they have innate high intelligence. However, you can have a very intelligent child who is not classified as gifted because they might have some issues in school. For example, they have ADHD or they struggle with executive functioning. So for a child to be considered gifted, they’ll need to have a combination of a very high IQ and good executive functioning skills.

Q: What would you say is the main game-changer for gifted children in the 21st century?

S: I feel like a lot has changed for gifted kids in the last 30 years or so. Mainly because before that, there weren’t that many specially designed programs for them to explore that would allow them to unlock their full potential. They used to be limited to the regular classroom with all the rest of the kids, which had its pros but some cons as well.

Q: How can we spot gifted students? What are some of the main characteristics of gifted students?

S: Gifted children seem to be gliding through school without any difficulty whatsoever, and this should be your number-one clue. If you’re a parent, you might notice that it takes them no time to finish their homework. You kind of get the impression that school is super-easy for them and they get through it without ever struggling.

These kids are able to adapt to new challenges pretty quickly and they easily grasp new ideas. For instance, when introduced to fresh materials in subjects like math, which most kids struggle with, they don’t require a lot of practice. Not only do they have the ability to acquire new concepts faster than the rest of their peers but they also learn to apply them really well.

Q: What would you say are some of the main obstacles gifted students face these days?

S: I think there are several issues for gifted kids in the traditional educational system. The main one is that they’re not really being challenged. Gifted children are probably bored at school. They’re probably bored out of their mind! If everything comes easily and naturally to them they’ll never have the opportunity to struggle and build resilience.

Finding something that actually challenges them will help them keep growing and learning to overcome obstacles. The obvious solution might be signing the child up for a gifted program or have them attend a school for gifted kids, but that comes with another set of issues. Sure, now they’re being challenged so that’s one less thing to worry about. Still, these kinds of environments tend to be really competitive and that can cause a lot of anxiety in a student. Even though they’re very good, even though they’re very smart, having to perform in a context that promotes competition can create a lot of pressure and have a very negative effect on a child’s mental well-being.

Another obstacle they face in today’s schooling system is that they never learn to properly work in teams. This is a big issue as regards modern and future workplaces. The set of challenges that humanity is facing nowadays is really complex. Let’s put it this way – if a problem was simple enough, we’ve already solved it. What we have today are challenges that require tackling from multiple angles, by experts in different fields. Having a good, strong team and knowing how to function in it is an essential skill for professionals in the 21st century.

Now, if you’re a gifted kid and you get teamed up with someone at your school in order to, say, complete a project, a couple of things can happen. Option one is you’ll be doing most of the work. This is teaching gifted students that teamwork is all about you doing the lion’s share of the work and other people just coasting along. But let’s consider that your teammates actually want to help. The gifted child still has very high expectations, which could make them want to contribute to other aspects of the project and take over assignments of others as well.

In the first common scenario, gifted students are learning others are lazy and don’t want to do their part. The second teaches them other people can’t really perform to their standard and since they’re fearing a lower grade, they think they have to do the work themselves.

The main factor at play is that they are not teamed up with people who are at their level of understanding. To really learn the value of teamwork you need to be on a team with people who have abilities or skills that are different from your own but at pretty much the same level. A context where either someone’s a little bit better or you’re a little bit better than someone else. As a group, you all need to function on a similar level in order to appreciate the value of working in a team as opposed to working by yourself.

Q: What can gifted children do in order to overcome these common challenges?

S: The main thing is to find an interest or a project that really challenges you and puts your capabilities to the test. That is something these kids lack in the school system. Go into something that doesn’t come naturally and doesn’t come easily. That might be learning a musical instrument or practicing a sport or it can be a host of different things, but find something that really feels challenging and you have to work for.

What’s difficult for you might not be for someone else, and will differ from person to person. Maybe you’re really talented at school but you struggle with sports, so getting on a sports team will put you in a situation where you can work at it and gain resilience. Or maybe you’re great at school but you want to get more familiar with a particular subject. Let’s say you’re looking into something like coding or web-design. You can pursue it and go deeper to a point where it becomes really challenging. Even if your school doesn’t provide you with a challenge, I’m sure there’s more to that area than what you’re able to learn in school.

The second thing is you need to find an environment where you can learn to collaborate with other people and that probably means finding a team that is at your level. So it can be extracurriculars, online classes, school newspapers, sports teams… Something that doesn’t come naturally, something that you really need to work for and that’s going to be very different for different kids.

Q: In your opinion, what is the number-one skill gifted children should focus on developing?

S: I think resilience is one of the most important skills that you can build, for all children. I think a lot of people view it as a trait and not a skill, but resilience is just knowing how to deal with obstacles. Not crumbling in the face of a challenge, but rather facing it head on and solving issues along the way. However, it’s a skill that a lot of people don’t learn and gifted kids are especially in danger of this since they meet fewer challenges early on. Everything comes easily to them which means they don’t have to learn resilience.

But in life, as they go through the educational system and into the workplace, they will definitely face challenges. They might, say, get into a very competitive college. Now, all of a sudden, they’re surrounded with a bunch of people who are as smart and as talented as they are and the workload is a lot greater. There’s a lot more stress than they’re used to, and if they’ve never learned how to face challenges properly, this is where they might crumble.

Q: What are some of the pros and cons of being a gifted student in the digital age?

S: Some challenges are universal to all kids and they apply for gifted students as well. For instance, the era of social media is shortening our attention spans, which is a challenge for adults as well. However, the opportunities of the digital age are really great. Online, you can learn anything. There are so many things to choose from and if you have the right mindset, you can find something that will challenge you and you’ll want to spend your time on. Unfortunately, what I’ve often seen is that people start learning something and then give up fairly easily. They take up a course, it seems really interesting and a couple of weeks in their motivation drops and at that point, they just stop investing in it. So the opportunities are there, but making the most of them is not that common.

Q: How can Nobel Explorers help gifted students reach their full potential?

S: Nobel Explorers is a great opportunity for gifted students. What we offer them is an environment where they can learn to collaborate with other people and where they can work on something challenging. The projects that they’re working on can’t be done by just one person. This means they’ll be working on an online, international team where everyone has their own role. This is something that mimics most of the workplaces you’ll find in the 21st century.

On one hand, they’ll have a team and their own role within that team so they’ll need to learn how to collaborate with the rest of the Explorers in order to complete the project. On the other hand, they’ll have the opportunity to go in depth on their area of expertise and interest. So let’s say their team is building a website and they’re the designer. Maybe they want to learn a little bit more about website design or graphic design in general. If they have extra time, they can go and do that without having to step on anyone else’s toes and overtaking other people’s assignments.

Gifted children need the right environment in order to reach their full potential.
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Q: Can you share some tips for the parents of gifted children? What can they do to contribute to their child’s development?

S: Parents should let their kids face challenges and help them through them. I think a lot of parents fall into the trap of doing everything for them just so their child will be happy. It’s very normal to feel this way, but the parents tend to go into obstacle-removing mode. They remove anything from their child’s life that’s difficult or unpleasant. This is a problem because kids who are really sheltered won’t learn critical life skills they’re going to need as adults. You need to let them face and overcome their challenges, whatever they might be.

Whether they’re at school or they have social challenges with their friends, don’t remove the obstacle but teach them how to deal with it. You can start doing this when they’re very young. If your 5-year-old has a problem in the playground with another kid and they’re really sad or upset about something that this other kid did, you can be there and support them through that. But don’t simply take your kid out of that environment forever. These situations will be incredibly helpful for your child’s development.

There’s one more issue parents can help out with. Gifted kids can sometimes have very high expectations of themselves. Parents play an important part here, their influence being greater or smaller depending on the situation. Let’s consider a scenario where the child has high standards for their performance and their parents share these expectations as well. That can be a problem if the child is intellectually well ahead, but emotionally still on the same level as their peers. A typical 15-year-old, even though they’re really smart and have no problem grasping all the subjects intellectually, can still struggle with the pressure of it.

If you have a kid like that who is gifted but struggles with the pressure of performing at that level, help them lower the bar. It sounds counterintuitive but I’ve seen it first hand. These are usually kids who do math problems in their free time for fun. They don’t need encouragement. They need you to help them set the bar lower so that they can perform without feeling pressured. Help them understand and accept that they don’t “need” to get an A and you can suggest a less stressful goal, like getting a C, for example. What should happen is, even if they get the occasional B, they’re still probably going to get mostly A’s because they are still gifted, engaged, and interested. But by lowering the bar, you’ll be removing the pressure from the equation and reducing stress. Without pressure, there’s less anxiety, which means your child will be happier and healthier.

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Three Skills That Will Guarantee Your Child a Job 20 Years from Now

Andrew Sachs is the founder and CEO of Nobel Coaching & Tutoring, and Nobel Explorers. Through online educational coaching and tutoring, as well as an online, international STEM teamwork camp, Andrew’s vision for Nobel is to activate student motivation that results in improved learning outcomes. As the next industrial revolution draws ever so near, he talks about the importance of entrepreneurial, computational, and psychological thinking for the next generations of students. Andrew also shares some specific suggestions that will help children and young adults develop these skills in order to attain job security in the era of robotics and AI.

Q: Why are these three skills so important for future generations of children?

A: I think that it’s easy to understand why all parents want their kids to be good at reading, writing, and math. It’s an idea that made sense in the past because it was believed that these particular skills would be the foundation for securing a good career in many different professions. In fact, the educational system has been testing these skills extensively on a national, state, and individual student level of performance.

The world has shifted a lot in the last 30 years or so. We can see new patterns and disciplines emerging and dominating today’s business world, such as globalization or informational technology. We’re witnessing their influence in things like the advancement of applications and social media. We are also seeing that technological progress carries with it certain challenges, especially for the psychological aspects of our being. There are viruses running through your head, not just your computer!

Taking this massive change into account, there is a clear need for making a shift in the way we educate people and the skills we teach them. We need to go one step beyond reading, writing, and math, and move closer to entrepreneurial, computational, and psychological thinking.

Q: Can you tell us a little bit more about these skills? What are they and how are they manifested?

A: Entrepreneurial thinking is, at its core, systems thinking. Today, in a globalized world, the pace of business change continues to accelerate. You don’t have to be an entrepreneur in order to benefit from being able to think like one. Even if you’re simply looking to get a job and build a career at a specific company, you need to understand how that company works, the way in which it is evolving and adapting, how your job might fit into that particular system, and how your contribution to the company can change over time. Figuring out answers to these questions will help you pick a profession you’ll be happy with, while at the same time ensuring your economic success.

Computational thinking is connected to three major areas of modern industry: traditional IT, AI, and robotics. IT is already impacting every business. It doesn’t matter whether you’re a doctor or running your own lawn-maintenance company, using information technology in order to provide your customers with the best possible service is a necessity in today’s business environment.

A lot of people don’t realize that we’re already subject to machine learning and AI today. All the bots, everything that determines what YouTube video you’re going to watch next, what ads will show up on your Facebook side panel… all that is being done by Artificial Intelligence. It’s not a person doing it, but a complex algorithm. Understanding how these algorithms work and being able to apply them to any big data set for the betterment of the business that you’re in is really important.

And then lastly, through the advancement of AI, we’re seeing a whole new domain of robotics being unleashed. The most interesting thing is that the mechanical aspects of robots have not changed much. What’s really changed is that now, for very little money, you can have a robot that’s extremely intelligent and able to automate many common tasks. By combining AI image recognition with traditional robotics capabilities, we’re looking at a world where you can easily train robots to do tasks that we might consider only doable by humans today.

So why is computational thinking so important? Firstly, it can help you prepare for a career in a profession which is not easily replaceable by a robot, and secondly, it can allow you to look for and design a place for those robots and improve the efficiency of your work or your company.

Last but certainly not least – psychological thinking. As humans, we’re still carrying this gray matter between our ears that was honed over millions of years of evolution as a nomadic pack animal. And, for lots of good reasons, it’s got features that are very well suited for that world, but not for the one that we’re living in today. Nowadays, we’re living in a complex society that is functioning under a different set of rules, and yet, these outdated mechanisms are still impacting the world that we see today and giving rise to many serious issues. These biases are being utilized in order to manipulate behavior – for example, through the use of fear. The impulsive reactions that we make when we’re in a state of fear are usually not the best ways to deal with a situation. Psychological awareness is an important tool that can help us identify these biases and manipulations so that we can consciously work them out, protect ourselves from them, and make better, more rational decisions.

Developing these skills does not mean you’ll be limiting your career choices. If you’re developing entrepreneurial skills, it doesn’t necessarily mean you’ll end up running your own company. Neither does learning to code mean that you’ll become an engineer. These skills can be very useful in many different ways for many different professions. As parents, we should make sure our kids learn them as soon as possible so that they’ll get a much better understanding of the world and be more successful.

Q: What are the top three tips for developing these essential skills and what can parents do to help?

A: I think educational science has progressed significantly in the last 20 years and one of the things that we’ve learned is that if you want to understand something – do it. Try it, make mistakes, learn from do-overs. For developing entrepreneurial thinking, if you’re eight years old – go set up a lemonade stand. If you’re in high school, figure out a shirt or a cup you can design and try to sell it. And more importantly, get together with some other people to do this. It’s very important to share the learning and work together on a project at that age

For computational thinking, you can get into coding and there are several ways to ease yourself into the field. Number one is block-level coding, where the whole process is more graphic and much easier to comprehend. There’s also a fantastic tool called Scratch from MIT which is also very approachable. Furthermore, you can use this knowledge to try and build something tangible, such as creating a small video game or an app. You can then explore supervised machine learning and creating genetic algorithms. These items can be very simple but actually coding them and learning how to take a complex, undefinable process and break it down into things that can actually be done is a really great skill that applies everywhere else in life.

One of our Nobel Explorers projects currently offered to students is:
LEARN HOW TO CODE AND DESIGN A WEBSITE!

Registration is OPEN!

Psychological thinking can be learned and improved in many different ways. For starters, take a psychology course. Study biases. Work inside a team. All of these activities will provide you with a great setting for learning how to think in terms of human psychology and its challenges. One of the easiest exercises you can do? Find people who actually disagree with you on things but are constructive in their dialogue. Have discussions with them, all the while trying to better understand their point of view.

Q: How will these predictions affect the future of education? What can we do to prepare children for the future of work?

A: The question of job security and relevance is really important for all parents out there. Especially now when robotics, AI, and Informational technology are coming at our economy like a freight train. If you thought the industrial revolution changed a lot or if you thought IT changed a lot, you haven’t seen anything yet.

What can parents do about that? Well, if your child is interested in software, robotics, or AI, then help them go for it. But, more importantly, if those career choices are off the table, there are two things you can do to ensure your child can find work in tomorrow’s economy. Primarily, you can encourage them to choose and engage in industries that are less susceptible to disruption. Secondly, you can help them develop their soft skills.

Robotics and AI are not going to lead to a “Terminator” scenario. What’s really going to happen is whatever individual hard skill you might have, that task is going to be better done by a computer and AI in 5, 10, maybe 15 years. So you need to pick a profession that won’t be totally obviated and made redundant by technological advancements. If you’re thinking about going into radiology and reading X-Rays, you need to think again. Or if you’re thinking of becoming a translator? Don’t! I’ve already listened to a Google Translate version which is currently being used exclusively throughout the company, and it works better than humans.

Don’t bet your career on a hard skill. But, match that hard skill with 21st-century soft skills. Critical decision-making, teamwork, collaboration… And whatever it is, make sure you develop the skill to adapt. Because one thing that will be constant is change.

Q: How can Nobel Coaching & Tutoring and Nobel Explorers help students develop these three skills?

A: Our coaches are well trained and focused on teaching the principles of positive psychology and encouraging people to become the best versions of themselves. So if you’re dealing with academic, real-life, or even business issues, our coaches can help you in all those areas with specific focus on psychological thinking. This involves learning about our biases, how to communicate better with other people, and even understanding how to create habits in order to help ourselves improve. But maybe the most interesting aspect is that our coaches nurture what is known in psychology as the growth mindset, the notion that you can actually change yourself. And that is essentially the main goal of Nobel Coaching & Tutoring. To help people change themselves for the better and get to a version of themselves that they want.

While Nobel Coaching is focused on improving psychological thinking, Nobel Explorers really goes after the computational and entrepreneurial mindset, and all of the projects are designed to help students acquire these types of skills. It is an online international STEM camp and every one of the projects is designed to incite age-appropriate learning.

For the development of entrepreneurial thinking, we offer some silicon-valley styled courses where students get to learn how to start up their own company. For computational thinking, we have many Nobel Explorers classes where we’ll be covering the topics of coding and web design, artificial intelligence, and robotics. We introduce these subjects to our students through practical assignments and at the end of each course, they will definitely have something to show for it – along with gaining valuable, life-long experience.

It’s important to make note of the fact that all of our classes are organized through project-based learning, as well as team-based learning. Each and every class has an entire soft skills curriculum embedded into it. On top of learning computational and entrepreneurial thinking, the students are also acquiring soft skills such as communication, teamwork, how to have constructive conflict, and how to make group decisions. All these soft skills we’ve talked about can be taught to children as young as eight, if the setting is right and adapted to their needs and interests. And that is exactly what Nobel Explorers does.

Nobel Explorers offers a range of STEM projects which are age-appropriate and provide students with an opportunity to develop entrepreneurial, computational, and psychological thinking by solving complex problems in a team setting.

Q: Some parents might be afraid that their children are too young and not ready to get into coding or other activities you’ve mentioned. What are your experiences in regards to actually working with children and teaching them these skills through Nobel Explorers projects?

A: I think the fear of children not being ready to learn comes exclusively from the parents and not the kids. We make sure children are capable of following, participating, and of course, learning from the projects by making them age-appropriate. At the entrepreneurial level, if we’re discussing 8 to 10 year-olds, it’s the equivalent of a lemonade stand – understanding things like what happens when we raise or lower the price, or move the stand to a high traffic area.

The same goes for computational thinking. It might be a ‘Scratch’ robotics assignment where you’re helping a dog find a bone in the maze. Or, if the children are a little older, they might learn some of the fundamentals of coding in Python.

Even the psychological and teamwork items are age-appropriate. We start out with respecting other people, allowing other people to talk… Then we go on to encourage focusing on ideas and not the people and teaching kids how to do active communication and so on.

The earlier they acquire these skills, the faster and more advanced is the learning. If a student learns how to communicate as part of a team at age eight, then maybe they can learn how to have a constructive conflict by age 10, and at 14 they could be showing signs of leadership. The point is, in today’s educational system, we’re not focusing on teaching these skills to our children at all. But if we expose them to those skills and give them the experiences to actually try and master them, it turns out you can start as young as eight years old.

Q: What does the future hold for Nobel Coaching & Tutoring and Nobel Explorers?

A: For Nobel Coaching & Tutoring, we’re currently working on expanding our coaching team but also on expanding the domains in which we coach. So we currently offer academic coaching for students young as six, but with a high focus on academics. We also have life coaching, where we help people with their choices in life and adjusting to change. One thing we’re also looking into is bringing in business coaching to help people create and work in better environments, learn how to handle challenging coworkers or bosses – all with the goal of making work a more pleasant place.

For Nobel Explorers, we’re highly focused on the 8-18 age range and a lot of our classes are very much beginner classes. But for example, we’re also preparing things like a ROS, Gazebo robotics class, where we’re combining machine learning and AI with robots, and we’ll be teaching students to design robots using genetic algorithms. The main idea is that we’ll be helping middle school and high school kids learn things that lots of college students don’t even get to master.

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A Student’s Guide to Nobel Explorer Badges

Hello, Nobel Explorers! You might have noticed some badges starting to pop up on your profiles. In case you wondered what they were and what they mean, check out this guide that will provide you with all the answers and explain just why are they’re so important.

Most of the Nobel Explorer badges are based on the World Economic Forum’s top 10 list of skills to have in 2020. These skills are supposed to make sure your future careers skyrocket and we’ve divided them into seven categories:

    1. Teamwork
    2. Complex Problem-Solving
    3. Creativity
    4. Critical Thinking
    5. Judgment and Decision-Making
    6. Handling Differences In Opinion
    7. Time Management

Teamwork

Heads-up Honcho

Student uses verbal and nonverbal cues to express active listening.

Showing that you’re not only paying attention to what’s being said but that you’re an active part of the conversation is a skill that is a vital aspect of teamwork. It conveys interest in what’s being said and helps you stay involved throughout the discussion.


Cordial Cruiser

Student is familiar with everyone’s names and roles

Getting friendly with everyone and remembering their names and roles is common courtesy 101. Furthermore, it’s important because it helps build cohesion, facilitates communication, and saves us from being on the receiving end of one or two facepalms when we’re trying to address each other in a group setting.


Focus Follower

Student is able to maintain focus throughout the meeting.

Sooner or later during a discussion, you’re going to get the chance to pitch in. When that happens, you need to be ready. Maintaining focus throughout a session will allow you to contribute to the conversation in a relevant and meaningful manner.


Vocal Explorer

Student lets teammates know if he/she understands them or not.

When someone is addressing you directly, it’s important to convey whether or not you’re able to follow their train of thought. If you are, then you’ll be encouraging them, but if you’re not, then they’ll need to know in order to adapt their presentation accordingly. In good teamwork, misunderstandings are dealt with immediately so that everyone can keep up.


Wordy Whiz

Student lets teammates know when he/she is done sharing.

As a rule, it’s good to end your sentences with a signal cue that would let others know that it’s time for them to pitch in. If this becomes a habit, it will encourage everyone else to listen for that cue and not jump in while the speaker is in the middle of a sentence or simply not finished speaking.


Savvy Scout

Student understands the difference between facts and opinions, and is able to qualify statements accordingly.

When opinions are misconstrued as facts and vice versa, the whole conversation can be derailed. Opinions are very useful in driving things forward, but facts have much higher validity and are what provides any scientific discussion with structure. That is why it’s important to highlight your statements and qualify them as either fact supported by evidence or as an opinion which doesn’t have to be.


Funky Flowmaster

Student openly asks clarifying questions about things that he/she doesn’t understand.

People are often afraid that they’ll ask the wrong question and they fear how others will react. Not asking questions when necessary will always be much worse, because a topic which isn’t well understood can be of consequence for everyone in the group. It’s often the case that an unasked question at one point has a tendency to turn into 10 new questions later.


Sharing Seeker

Student encourages his/her teammates to share ideas.

Ideas trigger other ideas. Not all of them are bound to be great, but even they can inspire others to think of better ones. By encouraging others to share theirs, we are making a proper context for learning. When we express and discuss ideas freely, we can analyze, adjust, and transform them into better ones, and everyone gets to learn something in the process.


Choosy Checker

Student checks to ensure the rest of the group is able to follow and understand him/her.

When speaking about a subject, it’s important to let people show you that they’re listening and whether or not they understand what’s being said. By doing so, you’re encouraging others to show that they are actively listening and allowing them the opportunity to get their Heads-Up Honcho or Vocal Explorer badges!


Mobile Missionaire

Student makes project feedback easily accessible to everyone by using Google Sheets.

Feedback needs to be recorded in a transparent manner so that everyone has a clear overview of the topic under discussion. Google Sheets are a great tool that everyone has access to and it provides a setting for driving the discussion further via chat and by leaving comments.


Group Guardian

Student asks for feedback on his/her ideas and work.

Feedback is the most important step in learning. Without it, we would never truly be able to know if what we’re doing makes sense or not. People often confuse feedback with criticism because each has the same component of essentially telling someone what was wrong about their work or actions. The difference is in the intention and the constructive suggestions that accompany feedback. This should not frighten a Nobel Explorer!


Proper Player

Student helps others learn and grow by providing them with constructive feedback.

This just means that giving and receiving feedback require a certain level of skill! Sharing direct information in a kind, yet encouraging manner is something that needs to be mastered but it’s also the most valuable asset in a teamworker’s toolkit.

Complex Problem-Solving

Discourse Driver

Student stays focused on the driving question throughout the discussion.

During a discussion, it’s easy for people to get more or less off track. This doesn’t mean that the topic emerging is not worth discussing, but rather that the main agenda needs to remain the focal point. The key is being able to recognize when the conversation is drifting and to act quickly to readdress the driving question.


Wandering Wonderer

Student uses WH- questions to understand the problem better and come up with appropriate ways for solving it.

Using questions that begin with who, what, when, where, and how is a powerful tool for getting familiar with all aspects of a specific challenge. These five types of questions will provide you with all the information you need and provide a better vantage point before tackling the issue.


Solution Finder

Student is able to come up with a quick fix for the problem at hand.

Coming up with quick-fix solutions isn’t applicable to all situations, but when it is, it can be quite rewarding for the entire team. Now all the time that would usually be spent on a lengthy discussion can be directed towards solving the more difficult challenges.


Mindful Mapper

Student utilizes mind maps to better understand different ideas and how they are connected to the central concept.

When presenting everyone with a complex topic, mind maps are a great way of making sure everyone understands the central concept and how exactly all relevant ideas are connected to it. If prepared correctly, everyone will be able to better understand the topic at hand and it will save the team from having to go over lots of different questions.

Creativity

Smart Spotter

Student records ideas about the project in their alone time.

Many of the greatest minds have made their famous scientific breakthroughs outside of their laboratories and offices while performing common everyday tasks and activities. When inspiration strikes and an idea about solving an issue raised in class emerges, writing it down so that you can discuss it at the next meeting is the proper way to go.


Buddy Brainiac

Student applies brainstorming to generate ideas.

Brainstorming is a useful tool to have at your disposal when a challenge requires a particularly creative resolution. The greater the number of different ideas, the wider the choice for reaching a better solution.

Critical Thinking

Early Examiner

Student dives deeper into the subject by using open-ended and follow-up questions.

Being thorough in the opening stages of resolving an issue can do wonders for the team in terms of time-saving and error-prevention. By asking questions that drive the discussion deeper, you will be establishing a firm base for upcoming areas of discussion and everyone will have a much clearer picture of the challenge at hand.


Thorough Thinker

Student spots the pros and cons of different ideas and solutions.

Getting to know both sides of the coin contributes to developing a full, unbiased picture of a subject or an idea that’s being discussed. When we take the good with the bad and vice versa, we’re creating the conditions for rational decision-making and properly informed judgment.

Judgment and Decision-Making

Smoother Solver

Student uses checklists to stay on top of his/her work.

Making a list of our assignments is an essential first step towards a job well done. Using checklists allows us to have a clear overview of our activity-schedule and keeps us from overlooking some important tasks.

Handling Differences In Opinion

Wise Observer

Student confirms if the team really has a disagreement on a specific topic.

If we’re not able to comprehend the opinions of people on the other side of the argument, we tend to misconstrue them, which only creates an illusion of a disagreement. The better you understand the topic, the more chance you have of figuring out if the team is actually on the same page or not.


Conflict Chronicler

Student is capable of getting to the bottom of a disagreement.

When engaged in a disagreement with your fellow Explorers, you need to focus on uncovering the roots of your conflict. Focusing on issues that appear on the surface would be the equivalent of a doctor treating symptoms and not the disease.


Roaming Runner

Student is able to identify if a problem should be resolved immediately or left for another day.

It’s usually a good thing to want to resolve issues the second you spot them. However, sometimes you’ll be trying to tackle several challenges at the same time, and you need to know how to prioritize them, focus on the ones that are most urgent as well as most important, and leave the rest for another time.

Time Management

Captain Prompt

Student shows up for meetings on time.

Attending meetings at the scheduled time is crucial for productivity but also a sign of respect to your fellow Explorers and their time.


Smooth Sailor

Student can identify tasks and organize them into a to-do list.

Creating to-do lists is a sure-fire way of increasing productivity even before the “real” work starts. Once you’ve understood your assignments, remember to organize them, create a list, and enjoy that little rush you get when you start checking them off!


Blake Timely

Student sets reminders for deadlines and important dates.

We’re usually so confident in our abilities that we don’t care about taking additional precautions in order to avoid any mistakes that might happen. Setting a reminder for an upcoming big event, meeting, or a deadline, takes minimal work but it’s also shown to be a proven insurance policy.


Tickling Traveler

Student can break down a job into smaller tasks and submit them on time.

You need to take responsibility for your assignments and an important aspect of that is being able to break them down into smaller components you can handle more easily and perform on time. Having these skills can also help your team’s overall planning process because you’ll be able to make better time assessments and design your deadlines accordingly.

Hey there!

You made it all the way to through! We don’t have a badge for this though, but a heartful “Great Job” should work just fine! Now that you’re all caught up with how the badge system works, it’s time to go out there and get as many as you can!

Have a look at some of our projects you can become a part of!

Become a Nobel Explorer Today!

Prepare yourself for the jobs of the future and

open up a world of amazing career opportunities!