robot

Teaching Kids to Teach Robots

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Our Vision

We believe more children need to be encouraged to make and break things, to create out of their imagination, to build inventions no one has every thought of before. In our Spring and Summer Camps, we strive to provide an environment where making is fun.

We believe building, making, coding and tinkering are important ways kids can prepare for the yet-to-be-invented careers of the 21st century.

We call ourselves Daedalos because we are inspired by the inventiveness and creativity of the Greek mythological inventor Daedalus*.

Our Story

Daedalos Academy was founded in 2014 by Ana & Barish Golland in Vancouver, B.C., Canada. Both Ana and Barish have a combined 20+ years of experience teaching in K-12 education, Learning Technology and using LEGO® Education in the classroom. Together they have two wonderful children, Lourdes and David, whose creativity and constant desire to learn are their joy and inspiration!

Our Goals

  • To help children think critically and logically

  • To develop problem solving skills

  • To promote collaboration

  • To equip children with transferable technical skills

  • To foster creativity & inspire curiosity

  • To help children be comfortable with tinkering – prototyping, testing, etc.

  • To help children appreciate that the process is more important than the outcome

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Our People

Ana Golland

Founder & Program Director

Ana Golland founded Daedalos Enrichment Programs (Daedalos Academy) in 2014. Ana has over 15 years experience in the education sector working in a variety of organizations teaching kindergarten to primary school children. Ana has a Master of Arts in Ancient Cultures, Religions and Ethnicity from UBC.

Braydan Pastucha

Lead STEM & Robotics Instructor

Braydan Pastucha has a dual degree Bachelor of Education and Bachelor of Science from UBC. He aspires to be a middle school science teacher and move a generation of young people to critically think and consider multiple perspectives. Braydan works with Daedalos because it allows kids to apply scientific principles to real world and hands-on problems, a crucial step in understanding.

Matthew Ho

Robotics Instructor

Matt Ho is a Statistics and Computer Science student at UBC, with lots of excitement for disruptive technologies and robotics! He brings over three years of international-level robotics experience from FIRST Robotics Competitions, and hopes to transfer the knowledge and nuances he has learned over the years to the next generation.

Megan Oxland

Robotics Instructor

Megan is a current student at UBC, studying Mathematics and Astronomy. Her passion for LEGO and getting young people excited about STEM naturally guided her to Daedalos and LEGO Robotics in 2018. She enjoys helping children to think critically about how to solve problems and loves seeing their creativity applied to the design and programming of a robot.

Our Awesome Alumni

Davor Egersdorfer

Senior Robotics Instructor & STEM Teacher Trainer

Davor Egersdorfer has a Masters in Science Education at UBC, as well as a BSc in Molecular and Cell Biology from the University of Cape Town. A former teacher, he is passionate about helping kids learn through technology. Working with LEGO robotics at Daedalos was a childhood dream come true! Davor now works as Campus Director for Spirit of Math Inc.

Yonit Segal

STEM Instructor

Yonit Segal completed her Masters Degree in Physics and decided to become a STEM teacher. Besides her experience as a high school teacher, her previous Science Museum work gave her opportunities to share her love of science.  Yonit is fascinated by the independence of the youngest students at Daedalos, and how quickly they learn to build and program their LEGO robots.

August Hale

Robotics Instructor, FLL Coach and Ultra-nerdy Handy-man

August Hale is a UBC Mathematics major, originally from Eureka, California. He is the ultimate maker / fixer / tinkerer, patent designing our custom portable FLL tables. With his mathematical genius and excitement for STEM, he is a true inspiration to our students. And did we mention he makes fabulous pies? We are very happy for his successful graduation and will miss him dearly. Luckily we still have D&D sessions!

Justin Derwee

Robotics Instructor

Justin Derwee is a Computer Science student at UBC with a passion for robotics, programming, and technology.  He brings three years of robotics experience through the First Robotics Competition during his high school years.  Through Daedalos, Justin helped promote a STEM environment where kids are able to explore while learning applicable skills.