New Survey Explores Gender Gap in STEAM Education and Extracurricular Activities for Kids

Two Bit Circus Launches Kickstarter Campaign for New Maker Kit That
Combines ART and STEM to Inspire Creativity in Young Inventors

LOS ANGELES–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Two
Bit Circus, an engineering entertainment company, today released a
new survey report highlighting the gender gap in STEM (science,
technology, engineering, math)-based activities for children, revealing
art as the key entry point to STEM, especially for girls.

Two Bit Circus recently surveyed an audience of more than 500 parents to
understand gender differentiators in how children play and learn in
relation to STEM/STEAM (science, technology, engineering, art, math)
activities. The report uncovers key insights on children’s educational
interests and preferences for extracurricular activities and also shows
a lack of awareness for STEM/STEAM in general. In fact, 47 percent of
parents are unfamiliar with STEM/STEAM toys such as chemistry sets,
microscopes, Arduinos, etc. And surprisingly both boys and girls share
similar levels of interest in science and math in school, but girls are
far more likely to prefer arts and crafts inside and outside of school
than boys. This points to why there has been such a strong push for
STEAM in order to help close the gender gap in STEM.

Additional key findings from the STEM
vs. STEAM: The Gender Gap report include:

• Parents of both male and female children equally report that their
  child’s favorite STEAM subject in school is either math (26%) or
  science (30%)
• 41% of parents with boys say their child shows the most interest in
  technology/computing activities outside of school compared to only 18%
  of parents with girls
• 45% of parents with girls report their child shows the most interest
  in art outside of school compared to only 10% of parents with boys
• 62% of parents say that their child never participates in STEM
  extracurricular activities outside of school

To drive momentum for the STEAM movement and blend creativity, curiosity
and critical thinking to inspire the next generation of inventors, Two
Bit Circus is launching a Kickstarter
campaign to support the creation of Oomiyu, a paper craft and
technology kit. By allowing beginner inventors to build a fun,
customized and interactive paper craft robotic owl, kids get hands-on
experience with basic mechanical principles, electronics and programming
that combined creates a unique STEAM experience. This maker kit is
designed to bring art alive through creative innovation, combining art
with STEM for a well-rounded and engaging creativity platform.

“Not only does Oomiyu foster a sense of excitement for STEAM by building
creative confidence and curiosity in children, it also helps develop
critical thinking skills and makes technology more appealing for
creative and analytical thinkers alike,” said Two Bit Circus CEO and
Co-founder, Brent Bushnell. “By creating this holistic STEAM-based kit,
we hope to bring out the makers we know are hidden in every child.”

Oomiyu, a customizable platform, allows children to build, design,
customize and program a paper creature to move, respond and emote to
various stimuli. A companion mobile app and open source software extend
the possibilities even further. Simple connectors make it easy to add
new features and the included Arduino 101 packs powerful features like
Bluetooth low-energy (enables easy connection to other devices and the
internet) and machine learning (enables other pattern matching
behaviors).

Also included in the maker kit are off-the-shelf components like LEDs,
motors and paper patterns. The new Oomiyu maker kit offers a unique
balance of design elements combined with more technical aspects of
personalized programming for a craft that lives beautifully with
technology.

This crowd-sourced funding campaign hopes to reach its goal of $72,921
USD* within the next 30 days, or about 500 units sold. The cost of
Oomiyu is $150.

For more information about Oomiyu visit the Kickstarter
campaign page.

About Two Bit Circus

Two Bit Circus is a location-based entertainment company creating the
future of fun. The team of artists, inventors, educators and performers
builds social games and experiences that aim to inspire, engage and
reinvent the way people play. For more information, visit www.twobitcircus.com
or follow @TwoBitCircus.

*This number is our goal, and it is the first five significant digits of
the angular velocity of the Earth.

Contacts

104 West for Two Bit Circus
Emily Walsh, 720-407-6064
emily.walsh@104west.com