--- title: SparkFun Education Blog | Christa Flores description: Christa Flores began her career as a science educator for grades K-8 in 2001. Inspired by the maker movement in education in the spring of 2012, she co-founded the Hillbrook School iLab, a classroom designed for material and digital making in Los Gatos, California. Christa is a Problem-based science facilitator, a model for sharing STEM literacy with an emphasis on material science, design thinking, working in collaborative teams, sharing work, and entrepreneurial electives. She is a passionate speaker and writer about student-driven learning spaces, the maker movement and designing curriculum that affords a diverse array of learning styles, cultures and ideas to be leveraged in the classroom and beyond. As a teacher researcher she focuses on the design of meaningful making experiences for learners in formal as well as informal settings. --- [![Sparkfun](https://www.sparkfuneducation.com/img/logo.png)](https://www.sparkfuneducation.com/index.html) - [SparkFun Webstore](https://www.sparkfuneducation.com) - [Higher Ed](https://sparkfuneducation.com/higher-ed/index.html) - [Contact Us](https://www.sparkfuneducation.com/contact-us.html) - [Follow Us](https://twitter.com/SparkFunEDU) - [Home](https://www.sparkfuneducation.com) - [Blog](https://blog.sparkfuneducation.com) - [Curriculum](https://www.sparkfuneducation.com/curriculum.html) - [PD/Events](https://www.sparkfuneducation.com/professional-dev.html) - [KITS/Materials](https://www.sparkfuneducation.com/materials.html) - [Educator Stories](https://www.sparkfuneducation.com/educator-stories.html) - [Activities](https://activities.sparkfuneducation.com) [Blog Home](https://blog.sparkfuneducation.com/) / SparkFun Education Blog ## Christa Flores Christa Flores began her career as a science educator for grades K-8 in 2001. Inspired by the maker movement in education in the spring of 2012, she co-founded the Hillbrook School iLab, a classroom designed for material and digital making in Los Gatos, California. Christa is a Problem-based science facilitator, a model for sharing STEM literacy with an emphasis on material science, design thinking, working in collaborative teams, sharing work, and entrepreneurial electives. She is a passionate speaker and writer about student-driven learning spaces, the maker movement and designing curriculum that affords a diverse array of learning styles, cultures and ideas to be leveraged in the classroom and beyond. As a teacher researcher she focuses on the design of meaningful making experiences for learners in formal as well as informal settings. Find me on: ### Recent Posts [![](https://blog.sparkfuneducation.com/hubfs/EDU/BLOG%20Images/April%202017/HackToyArchitecture.jpg)](https://blog.sparkfuneducation.com/two-weeks-in-c.s.-sparkfun-bootcamp) ## [Two Weeks in C.S. SparkFun Boot Camp](https://blog.sparkfuneducation.com/two-weeks-in-c.s.-sparkfun-bootcamp) BY [Christa Flores](https://blog.sparkfuneducation.com/author/christa-flores) 5/2/17 6:40 AM [4](https://blog.sparkfuneducation.com/two-weeks-in-c.s.-sparkfun-bootcamp#comments-listing) [Maker Education](https://blog.sparkfuneducation.com/topic/maker-education) [student projects](https://blog.sparkfuneducation.com/topic/student-projects) [Processing](https://blog.sparkfuneducation.com/topic/processing) [Guest Post](https://blog.sparkfuneducation.com/topic/guest-post) - [Tweet](https://twitter.com/share) As a science teacher, I have little experience with coding or programming beyond the ubiquitous LEGO NXT kits many of us have stocked in our labs. Despite my lack of experience, I make the case in my ... 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