MyMachine

Children have big ideas.
Once an adult, only 1 out of 10 people voices their ideas. Ever.

When asked why, they report that “as a child, my ideas were usually ignored, laughed at, or punished”.

We live in a world that is changing rapidly and dramatically. If we want to prepare our children for this challenging future, we must take action now!

Unfortunately, most education systems never let students voice their ideas and bring them to life. Yet when we leave school to join the workforce, we are expected to come up with ideas and bring them to life collaboratively. But once an adult, we have become experts in boycotting our own ideas and those of others: ‘Won’t work’, ‘No budget’, ‘Won’t make the deadline’, etc.

This is where solution-driven engagement goes to die. We become silent, afraid of being labelled.

With MyMachine, we believe we should not boycott (y)our ideas, but find ways to test and value them. That’s how we can contribute to a truly fulfilling life and help people, organisations, communities, and the world at large thrive.

Plus, in the grand scheme of things, if we genuinely desire breakthrough solutions, we must nurture those who dare to think differently to address poverty, cancer treatment, space exploration, mobility, energy, and a healthy food supply — in short, all the challenges we face to create a prosperous, inclusive future for all.

Those groundbreaking — often initially perceived as "crazy" — ideas come from those who have the guts to express and test them. They have what it takes: creative confidence. They go beyond the fear of the unknown, the fear of taking the first step, the fear of losing control, and the fear of being judged.

With our unique & multi-award-winning methodology, students in elementary classes, university students, and vocational/technical secondary students co-create a 'Dream Machine' invented by the children. Anything goes, as long as they really, really want it.

Quick video introduction: https://youtu.be/DOpUxpUrRVQ

Whether you want to solve a challenge in your job or neighbourhood, create something fun, start your own company or whether you want to come up with a solution for something personal or a global issue, all require the creative confidence to express your ideas and bring them to life.

This is where (in the words of Harvard University) MyMachine delivers the "I can do that" perspective to all participants.

Students__
__learn that having ideas is important. That you shouldn't be afraid to express your ideas -even if they sound a bit weird or challenging in the beginning. They learn what it takes to bring an idea to life; and that you can do it by collaborating, respecting each other's talents, and being persistent and resilient.

Teachers and Professors__
__experience the power of project-based learning. A superb way to improve our outdated education system. Students in Project-Based Learning classrooms significantly outperform students in typical classrooms (scoring up to 28 percentage points higher) according to four studies released by Lucas Education Research. It is also proven that Schools with PBL classes have fewer problems with bullying and violence while outperforming in academic results.

And it's not just all hard work, the best part of it? It is also crazy engaging!

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Invented by kids:

• The Making-People-Happy-Again-Machine
• The Revolving Bunk-Bed (The-Never-Discuss-Anymore-Who-Gets-To-Sleep-On-Top-Machine)
• The Giving-Compliments-Machine
• The Stop-Poverty-Machine
• The Homework-Making-Machine
• The Candy-Making-Machine
• The Chase-Away-Evil-Ghosts-Machine
• ...and many, many more. Discover them here: http://dreamsdrop.mymachine-global.org

So, what is your Dream Machine?

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Your gift will make a lasting difference in helping us achieve our goal of bringing our powerful model to as many students as possible, worldwide.

With over 1.58 Million Student-Hours of impact, students on all continents have already learned that they can also contribute to society, rather than just be consumers of it.

We have local operators in the USA plus 14 other countries: South Africa, Slovenia, Slovakia, Portugal, Norway, Mexico, Kosovo, Kenya, Germany, Czechia, Croatia, Belgium, and Armenia. And via our annual MyMachine DreamsDrop Campaign, we collaborate with elementary school teachers in over 50 countries.