Anybody who’s encountered a middle- or high-schooler studying math or science has heard this frustrating complaint: “When am I going to use this in real life?”
It’s the very same question that Suz Somersall, CEO and Founder of KiraKira3D, had as an aspiring engineering student at Brown University, where she found the materials for learning mechanical engineering software utilitarian, lacking context and mostly geared toward men. She was turned off by lesson plans for creating hand tools, auto parts and gears, she said, objects that didn’t seem to further her ambitions to be an artist and designer.
“I wanted to study engineering, but the content offered in the intro classes wasn’t very compelling,” she said. “What I wanted was to be inspired to be creative.”