Dive Brief:

• Cambridge, MA, middle and high school students are working with NuVu Studio to tackle real-world problems with 3D printers and open-source electronics prototyping platform​ Arduino.  
• NuVu studios began as the dissertation thesis of its co-founders, who believe students as young as 13 can design and engineer projects typically associated with graduate students.  
• Instead of framing NuVu Studios as building math and engineering skills — which it does — the co-founders have found success marketing the program as a "creative-learning" opportunity.  

Dive Insight:

STEM skills are in high demand these days, and while NuVu does teach those skills, it's interesting that it doesn't use that as a selling point.

“We actually don’t go into an emphasis on engineering. We just say we want to teach you the creative process and then when you are trying to create the project you need a lot of engineering,” co-founder Saeed Arida told TechCrunch.  

This shift in framing illuminates structure ideas for schools across the nation that want to promote critical thinking and STEM skills. Some of the projects students have worked on include medical devices, a game that helps individuals lose weight, and a modular telepresence robot that can be controlled from a distance.