We live in a world that is changing rapidly due to the increasing impact of technology on how we live and work. Some have described this worldwide change as the Fourth Industrial Revolution.
World-renowned economist Klaus Schwab, Founder and Executive Chairman of the World Economic Forum, who first coined the phrase in 2016, was hopeful about the coming global shift, “Like the revolutions that preceded it, the Fourth Industrial Revolution has the potential to raise global income levels and improve the quality of life for populations around the world.”
The MATTER Innovation Hub (MIH) was created as a response to the potential of this global revolution to improve the quality of life for people around the world. The MIH will offer some of the world’s most disadvantaged youth a chance to compete in tomorrow’s world, opening doors of opportunity that will allow them to make healthier and more fulfilling choices in their lives.
According to a recent report issued by Microsoft Education,
“By the time today’s kindergartners enter the workforce, activities will substantially change across most occupations and will increasingly require the application of expertise and creative problem solving, as well as collaboration, management, and the development of people.”
The MIH was designed to address challenges in educating today’s kids by offering a new approach that promotes critical thinking, creativity, and leadership development—skills that the traditional education model often lacks. For example, the traditional classroom layout of desks or tables facing the teacher at the front of the room reinforces the belief that education is a linear activity passed down from teacher to student, with the student primarily a passive recipient of the teacher’s knowledge.
The MIH offers a completely different layout of the classroom, one where the students face each other in small groups and the teacher’s role is more of a coach or mentor to encourage collaboration, problem solving and active learning from each other and their environment—skills that will serve today’s kids well in order to compete in tomorrow’s world.
Created in collaboration with Jamf, the MIH uses Apple products and curriculum to teach coding skills using robotic balls, drones, and physical and virtual coding blocks, while also incorporating literacy and math.
Perhaps the most unique feature of the MIH is its portability and self-sustainability. Built within a shipping container and using solar power, complete with AC and heat, the MIH can be deployed anywhere in the world. It was designed so that even in places where Internet access is limited, the MIH will be fully capable of delivering a world-class, leading-edge education.
The first MIH is operating with our partner Healing Haiti in Cité Soleil. Dave Saltmarsh, Global Education Liaison at Jamf, described the children’s first experience in the Hub,
“Within twenty minutes of their first experience in the Innovation Hub, the students were working collaboratively, solving challenges, engaging with the technology and each other. Only moments after having their first experience touching a computing device, these kids were interacting with a robotic ball and gaining an awareness of what the possibilities are for their future.”
MATTER is excited to partner with organizations here in the United States and around the world to offer today’s children a chance to thrive in the technological future of tomorrow, affording them the opportunities to live more healthy, hopeful and fulfilling lives.
If you’d like to learn more about the MATTER Innovation Hub, please contact Jeremy Newhouse.
