STEM intensive industries are the economic drivers of the Puget Sound region. Twenty five percent of the top jobs in Washington involve technology or require STEM skills. By 2017, nearly 50,000 STEM jobs in Washington will be left vacant due to a lack of qualified applicants. In South King County, no group of 7th grade students met the target goal in math and no eighth grade students met the target goal in science. The body of evidence supporting the importance of STEM education, particularly in informal settings available to underserved students of all ages, continues to grow. ideaX addresses this challenge!

The ideaX series leverages KCLS’s robust fleet of outreach vehicles to offer offsite workshops in digital media, 3D design, electronics, robotics, coding, and game design. Depending on community need, the program can be scaled from a single visit to a 3-6 week series of sessions incorporating one or more modules per session. ideaX builds STEM capacity in KCLS staff, especially librarians, who will increasingly act as facilitators of out-of-school learning within the community. ideaX will position KCLS as a key partner in the extended network of educators and service providers offering out-of-school learning opportunities for our region's youth.

Opportunity youth will gain digital literacy skills associated with one or more of the modules that will support their growth and further their advancement toward employment opportunities. They will be exposed to a broad range of technology fields and applications, and experience first-hand how technology can be applied in support of their interests. Participants will develop confidence in their ability to experiment and express their creativity through hands-on projects utilizing hardware/software tools. Eventually, ideaX expands into a broader program platform, supporting a broad range of creative and economic skills development experiences for multiple audiences — the community’s incubator.