Testimonials:
"Working with Mr. Blackman on the Hawaii CyberSpace Academy, I was able to gain a lot of experience especially in the role of a facilitator for the DaVinci Workshops and interacting with guest Skype speakers, as well as take up leadership role to represent as the student coordinator of the Academy. Something I learned with the Academy and am still continuing to work on is to pause and think. Really think. Instead of memorizing what I learned before trying to pull them out, I need to think about how things really work, instead of thinking about what I learned about how things worked. It was a struggle for me, and still continues to be, but do believe that I am getting better at thinking with my gears instead of memories. The process of thinking is one of the essential key points of the Academy, as we want to promote the ability to think and incorporate STEAM into works, and is something we strive to pass onto the students!" – Shin Chang, HCSA Student Coordinator
"My name is Yun. I technically joined the HawaiiCyberspace Academy when I was a sophomore in high school. It wasn’t called that back then though. There was no academy, and there was just me recruited by Philip Blackman.
We went to look at the Hawaii State Science and Engineering fair. It was quite overwhelming and confusing when I first step in there and started reading all the boards, but Philip Blackman helped me take the boards apart one by one mentally and analyzed the process of thinking and presentation of the top winning boards. I learned a lot by doing looking at the projects: critical thinking skills, units of measurements; I learned how to be a good observer and also learned from some of the mistakes the posters made.
The following year, we decided to launch the Inventive Engineers’ poster contest in conjunction with the HCES Engineers’ Week. I great opportunity I wouldn’t have hoped to have. I witnessed and take part in the huge job of organizing a contest; we communicated with key personnel in the education system, searched for support and publicity. I learned about communication and presentation; of prototyping and the process of thinking. These skillsets I learned are not only applicable in science, but across disciplines and even in the real world. Entrepreneurial skills important in this “Start-Up” age.
Then we decided to start the Academy. This requires web design, media editing, and team organization. Things students don’t usually do. It is fun and rewarding and a good training.
The academy stresses the value of “thinking” as all of us have already learned a lot, and there should be a time when we take a step back from the gush of information and apply what we know. You will be very proud of yourself! Trust me, I’ve been through it! Being part of the academy by organizing the contest and thinking of new creative ideas for the classroom requires a lot of thinking. It is taxing and there is no instruction manual or formula sheet. But, haven’t you had enough memorizing at school? Time to drop the books and pick up the brain, don’t you think? At the end of the day you will take a step back and admire what you are capable of doing." –Yun Chang, HCSA Student Coordinator