Fwd: diva tech summer camp
Lalit Pant
---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Peterson, Neil <peterson_n@iowa....edu>
Date: Wed, Jun 17, 2015 at 12:29 PM
Subject: diva tech summer camp
To: "feed...@kogics.net" <feed...@kogics.net>
Lalit, Vibha, and Nikhil:
I wanted to drop you a short note to let you know about our use of KOJO. Each year we offer a summer camp where we bring in young girls to experience work in technical careers. I have taught on programming in past years, but this year I decided to try KOJO (even though I myself was completely new to it!). I spent last evening running over the basics and delivered the content this afternoon. The girls loved it and it was by far the best session I have had. I have 4 sessions of younger girls on Friday and I will be using it there as well.
We also offer free summer camps to area youth to help them get a camp experience at no cost. I initially proposed a programming camp using the Processing IDE, but based on this afternoon’s session I may look now at using KOJO instead.
Really nice product. Can’t wait to see what else we can do with it.
Neil
Neil A. Peterson
Prog Coordinator, Engineering & Design Tech
Iowa Central Community College
One Triton Circle
Fort Dodge, Iowa 50501
E-mail: peterson_n(at)iowacentral.edu
Lalit Pant
> You might be interested in knowing that I use vedic maths over here in my teaching and I will
> be ‘trying’ some of that on younger students.
> I have asked our PR officer to come over and shoot pictures to post on our program facebook page.
> I will give you that link when the photos are posted.
> I only regret you were not here in person to see how your work is being received by these kids –
> you deserve to see these smiles!
HI Lalit:
Thanks for your response. I just finished class for the day. I decided to try out Kojo on some of my sophomores and the response was very positive. They had too much fun for a summer day.
Let me explain a little further to help answer your question.
As I referred to earlier, we offer these summer camps free of cost. Here in Iowa we have come to understand that our young people are not realizing their full potential in STEM (science, technology, engineering, and maths) I actually sit on two state advisory boards that are looking at solutions for turning this around (STEM and CS). We also understand that when parents have to pay for camps, young people are less likely to have to experience what we can offer.
So, to address the problem, we have Diva Tech, which introduces young women (12 – 17 yrs) to careers traditionally dominated by men. We offer middle school boys camp as well. The object is to offer an immersive environment where they actually ‘do’ career material.
We also offer short 3-5 day summer camps that focus on specific topics. I will be doing a cybercamp where these kids will learn how to work with programmed graphics. I had planned on using the Processing IDE – but now I will be seriously looking at using Kojo.
Two weeks later I will also be doing a math camp. You might be interested in knowing that I use vedic maths over here in my teaching and I will be ‘trying’ some of that on younger students. It has been a bit of a challenge getting good material but I managed to snag a couple of used books published by Motilal Banarsidass. They are quite old but very good. Vedics is something new to Iowa and I’m interested in seeing how it is received.
You had asked about Wednesday’s session. I started by giving a quick presentation on how graphics and programming are important careers. We then got right into Kojo, where I spent about 5 mins explaining the interface. I did a quick side chat on languages, explaining the roles of C++, Java, Python, and Scala, and how syntax and flow are important in programming. I then introduced the clear(), forward(), and right() statements and they spent a few minutes making shapes. Next, I moved to loop structures and we covered repeat(). For there, we went into arcs and they designed their own flowers. Lastly, we did a bit with color, where I explained how RGB is important in CS. It all went very well, very quickly, and we ran out of time. It was about an hour of instruction with High School girls.
Tomorrow, I will be doing four sessions of one hour each with Middle School girls, so they will be younger. I expect to take the same approach although I have more modest expectations.
I have handouts I am giving to the groups with sample code, a sheet that shows them the page to your site and link, and two of your e-books to practice with when they get home.
I will be spending this afternoon fine tuning the handouts and code.
I have asked our PR officer to come over and shoot pictures to post on our program facebook page. I will give you that link when the photos are posted. I only regret you were not here in person to see how your work is being received by these kids – you deserve to see these smiles! We should have set up a webcam so you could have watched the kids live!
I hope that explains it better for you!
Neil
From: Lalit Pant [mailto:pant....@gmail.com]
Sent: Thursday, June 18, 2015 12:10 AM
To: Peterson, Neil
Subject: Re: diva tech summer camp
Hi Neil,
It's good to hear about your use of Kojo. And it's great to hear that your first Kojo session went very well. I'm curious - what did you have the girls do during the session?
Also, do you mind if I share your experiences on the kojo-user mailing list?Regards,
- Lalit