🌐Open Source = Instant Global Distribution, Innovation, Collaboration

An integral element of the Seeds To Bees initiative is the Open Source movement. Our mission is to Educate, Germinate and Pollinate. The Open Source movement has done exactly this on a global scale since its inception of GNU software in the 1980's to present day in the likes of Adrian Bowyer's RepRap project, Limor Fried's Adafruit Industries, Linus Torvalds' Linux OS, Quincy Larson's FreeCodeCamp, Sal Khan's Khan Academy and Josef Prusa's Prusa Research Company. We love these folks and their projects dearly and would rather not imagine a world without them.

Seeds to Bees will contribute to the Open Source movement to provide unique and innovative educational experiences, but to provide them to ALL learners, regardless of their levels of ability, age, means, needs for adaptation or barriers to access. The center for our curriculum will be our online 'Seeds To Beehive' repository.

Our state certified and open source curriculum will employ makeable assets to provide deeper, multi-faceted learning experiences whenever possible. These include assets that can be manufactured in schools and homes with 3D printers, laser cutters, CNC milling machines, vinyl cutters (extremely popular choice for public school teachers, including the ones on our team) and 2D printers. We will contribute our own and also utilize existing open source resources attributing all creators, sources and creative commons licenses.

This allows us to stand on the shoulders of giants to provide the best curriculum, at the cheapest price (free!) while welcoming learner's into the fold of the global Open Source movement at large. All curriculum and makeable assets on the Seeds to Beehive can be downloaded, used, remixed and contributed back to the Seeds to Beehive repository.

Our mantra, which can be found in different interpretations throughout various areas of the project ecosystem, applies

Educate - Knowledge is power. Seeds to Bees Curriculum, resources, and methodologies will be used to teach S.T.E.A.M. concepts, to help enrich lives, and to open up new opportunities and possibilties.

Germinate - Make! Print, Cut, Laser the assets to augment the the lessons with tangible objects to add greater fun and interactivity between subject matter and the learners. It is our hope that one of our experiences will be what germinates in the hearts and minds of many students and that they go on to bloom to reach their greatest potential.

Pollinate - Remix the curriculum and/or the makeable files and contribute back to Seeds to Beehive. Pollination makes new life possible and is the most important part of the process in many ways. Seeing the products created by others and drawing inspiration from them will allow the ideas to grow and spread and take on new life. It will also serve to attract new participants who observe the creations of program participants or alumni.