Class is nearly in session for a Central Florida education startup that lets children run a business, develop products and study cybersecurity.
Meta Humans this fall will open its first science and tech-focused education center at 2175 Aloma Ave. in Winter Park. However, it’s just the start of Meta Humans’ plans, which include opening more centers across the metro in the coming years and growing into a national network of facilities with a corporate headquarters in Orlando, CEO Philippe Tassin told Orlando Inno.
“We want to make the model so attractive that a nonprofit could run it in their community.”
Tassin, whose background is a blend of engineering, computer science and business, started Meta Humans in 2018 with his wife. The couple wanted strong science education options for their own children that would prepare them for the future, but they found the options lacking.
That’s why they founded Meta Humans, an educational program designed to teach 2nd-12th graders skill sets and critical thinking in science, technology, engineering, arts and math (STEAM). The firm provides after school education, tutoring, supplemental learning for homeschooling and summer camps in emerging technologies ranging from biotechnology to artificial intelligence.
Two years ago, Tassin enlisted a friend to build the company’s curriculum: Shawn Carlson, a renowned innovator in STEAM education with a PhD in nuclear physics. Carlson’s long list of accomplishments include being named a MacArthur Fellow and writing columns for Scientific American, but he told Orlando Inno that Tassin’s vision for STEAM education is the project with which he wants to end his career. “He was the first person to put it together in a way that I thought had a fighting chance to be done.”
Meta Humans seeks to tackle a couple problems. One is the widespread difficulty of engaging students in science education as they get older, particularly once they get to middle school, Carlson said. Another is a tendency for STEAM education programs to center around particularly gifted educators, with no ability to scale without those specific individuals who build the program.
However, Carlson said Meta Humans’ “secret sauce” consists of three physiological components built into its curriculum:
- Self engagement: Children must be personally invested in the curriculum.
- Social engagement: Children need to collaborate across age groups to work toward a common goal.
- Custodial engagement: The children need instructors who they admire and want to emulate, not just because of their intellectual abilities but also their status as moral leaders.
Meanwhile, Tassin and the Meta Humans team have growth on their minds. The company is exploring opening three more centers around Orlando, potentially in Lake Mary, Lake Nona or Dr. Phillips, and expanding to Tampa. Plus, the firm may franchise throughout the U.S. within the next three years, Tassin said.
The Meta Humans business model was crafted to be a franchise. Still, Tassin said Orlando will be the center of the Meta Humans network, and the company plans to open a headquarters office in Orlando once it's ready to franchise. “This is probably where we’d handle equipment and the management to get centers started.”
Tassin said that headquarters would generate local jobs for program development, training, compliance, logistics and more. In addition, a typical 4,000-square-foot Meta Humans center generates up to four salaried positions for lead educators, as well as five hourly positions and an assortment of independent contractor roles for specialized instructors.
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