YTA Program Overview
Young Thinkers of America (YTA®) Mission Statement:
To provide experience in logical and critical reasoning to young Americans in an interesting manner that communicates the true nature and importance of science education and professions, and in this way increases the number of logically gifted Americans successfully pursuing science and technology careers.
To further the mission, this web site provides at no cost, a 10-lesson program to high school students interested in getting involved in their local community. High school students have already shown themselves to be excellent YTA Instructors and mentors to younger students. In fact, the response of grammar school students to high school student YTA Instructors, teaching in pairs, has been incredible; the instructors effectively become rock stars to the young students (future YTA Instructors) who plead with them to come back soon for the next lesson.
A guiding philosophy in the design of the YTA lessons is that scientific and technological knowledge and advancement are built on a solid foundation of basic concepts, as well as the inclination to think and communicate logically. In line with this, each YTA lesson teaches a single scientific concept from which many other scientific concepts are built. A key component of the YTA program is that children from approximately 3rd to 6th grade will communicate their logical thoughts on the subject of the lesson, throughout the lesson. In this way the part of each child that values reasoning, logic and the pursuit of knowledge will be strengthened and appreciated.
Students are recognized for their achievement after each lesson when the YTA Instructor awards them a personalized YTA Trading Card that contains a science fiction character on one side, and important lesson concepts on the remaining side (see example below). Through these trading cards, the learning and discussing of science and technology concepts in the lesson is associated with a very positive outcome that both sparks their imagination and imprints the important and interesting nature of science and technology at an early age. Thus YTA not only expands on the recognition of the importance of basic concepts and logical thought in science education noted by education experts, but also addresses the issue of student interest. This last issue may be the most formidable barrier to keeping American students on the long and frequently arduous road to success in science and technology careers.
To provide experience in logical and critical reasoning to young Americans in an interesting manner that communicates the true nature and importance of science education and professions, and in this way increases the number of logically gifted Americans successfully pursuing science and technology careers.
To further the mission, this web site provides at no cost, a 10-lesson program to high school students interested in getting involved in their local community. High school students have already shown themselves to be excellent YTA Instructors and mentors to younger students. In fact, the response of grammar school students to high school student YTA Instructors, teaching in pairs, has been incredible; the instructors effectively become rock stars to the young students (future YTA Instructors) who plead with them to come back soon for the next lesson.
A guiding philosophy in the design of the YTA lessons is that scientific and technological knowledge and advancement are built on a solid foundation of basic concepts, as well as the inclination to think and communicate logically. In line with this, each YTA lesson teaches a single scientific concept from which many other scientific concepts are built. A key component of the YTA program is that children from approximately 3rd to 6th grade will communicate their logical thoughts on the subject of the lesson, throughout the lesson. In this way the part of each child that values reasoning, logic and the pursuit of knowledge will be strengthened and appreciated.
Students are recognized for their achievement after each lesson when the YTA Instructor awards them a personalized YTA Trading Card that contains a science fiction character on one side, and important lesson concepts on the remaining side (see example below). Through these trading cards, the learning and discussing of science and technology concepts in the lesson is associated with a very positive outcome that both sparks their imagination and imprints the important and interesting nature of science and technology at an early age. Thus YTA not only expands on the recognition of the importance of basic concepts and logical thought in science education noted by education experts, but also addresses the issue of student interest. This last issue may be the most formidable barrier to keeping American students on the long and frequently arduous road to success in science and technology careers.
YTA Trading Card Example: Lesson Number 6
