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PCS Edventures mixes high-, low-tech for kids
Boise company to go public with stock this month
By Julie Howard
The Idaho Statesman
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| Kim Hughes / The Idaho Statesman |
Tyler Gestrin, 8, center, laughs as he works with Legos alongside Jordan Evans, 8, left, and Elizabeth Daylong, 9, at the YMCA's Seven Oaks after-school site in Eagle. PCS Edventures, a Boise company, uses the building blocks in its high-tech, hands-on learning labs.
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| Kim Hughes / The Idaho Statesman |
Shalom Knight, 9, chuckles as she holds a bungee jump she built from LEGO components. "It's really fun," Knight said. "It took hours to make."
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t's hard to think high-tech about Legos. But PCS Edventures, a Boise curriculum development company, has combined Legos with its Internet-based learning programs for a successful blend of low-tech toys and high-tech delivery methods.
Now, the company is on the verge of going public, with an initial offering of stock expected to be listed this month on the Nasdaq Over-The-Counter exchange. The funds raised from stock sales will be used to further develop curriculum that focuses on science, electrical engineering and architecture. Already, the programs incorporate Legos to teach engineering, physics and robotics for students in kindergarten through high school.
Making learning fun and stimulating is the key to the programs' success, especially since PCS Edventures products are used by home-schoolers, after-school programs and for at-home enrichment. With other choices competing for children's attention -- from computer games to the TV -- what is it that draws children to the education-based programs?
"We all want to have fun while learning, and this gives us that opportunity," said Jim Everett, CEO of the Boise Family YMCA, which recently installed PCS labs in two of its Treasure Valley sites. "It's a unique experience for these kids, something they can incorporate into their day-to-day lives."
The Lego-based labs were placed in the Ustick and Seven Oaks YMCA locations through a $24,000 grant from the Idaho Community Foundation. The labs consist of thousands of Legos pieces organized into categories and are accompanied by curriculum that guides students through projects. The children build projects, take a picture of them with a digital camera so they can "keep" each project, and then take them apart to move on to the next project. A Web site is available to provide students additional activities and program updates.
While the programs are engaging, they are also firmly educational.
"We had one student with us all the way through high school," said Anthony Maher, PCS chairman, president and CEO. "He used his portfolio of projects for us as part of his application to MIT."
The company has developed three technology-based educational programs for kindergartners through 12th-graders:
• Academy of Engineering, which helps students develop, design and produce hands-on projects ranging from catapults to robots. A school or institution buys a site license for this program and then receives materials, books and a physical lab structure that consists of thousands of Legos pieces.
• Edventures Labs, a scaled-down version of the Academy of Engineering for those locations with funding or space restrictions. This program downloads curriculum from the Internet.
• Edventures!.COM, a home-based subscription service that provides access to an Internet-delivered curriculum that ranges from training in chess to science projects to art and animation. Classes in html and Web design also are offered online.
"It's geared for a child without the assistance of a parent, but the parent can be involved as they want to be," said Maher.
Younger students can learn about engineering terms, and how to build a bridge using Legos and calculate the structure's load capacity. Older students can create a fairly sophisticated Lego robot, using concepts of engineering, physics and simple machines.
The Internet site is interactive, with a chat room and forums that are monitored by PCS personnel, so that students can get online assistance with projects or curriculum. Subscribers can talk with one another or with technical support staff about projects.
The company started in Nampa as PCS Schools in 1985 and operated a chain of eight after-school centers in Idaho, Washington and California, developing and using its own math and sciences curriculum. By the early '90s, however, the company sold off all its centers and relaunched itself as PCS Educational Systems, looking to develop and sell its curriculum through the Internet.
Today, PCS learning labs are in such diverse locations as inner-city Boys and Girls Clubs in Philadelphia, an Inuit village near the Arctic Circle and suburban Idaho YMCAs. The company has about 4,000 online users in almost every U.S. state and in 12 countries.
The public offering of 12.5 million shares will help the company beef up its sales and marketing efforts, as well as expand its product line.
A price for shares is not yet available.
"We have a very clear idea of where we want to be down the road," said Maher.
The YMCA's Everett said he hopes the programs will expand to other locations in the Treasure Valley.
Stacy Borke, a counselor for the after-school program at the Seven Oaks YMCA, said the lab would be beneficial during summer programs, when up to 80 children a day visit her location.
"The kids are very excited ... they're creating and learning things, and they're especially excited about the online portion for the program," she said.
To offer story ideas or comments, contact reporter Julie Howard at 373-6618 or jhoward@boise.gannett.com
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Sunday, June 10, 2001
