Student Learning Archives

Breaking the Disconnection in Computer Science Education

Written by Charlotte Brearley of BSD Education

In a recent survey of 540 K-12 teachers conducted by YouGov for Microsoft, 88% of teachers said they agree computer science is critical to ensuring success in the workplace. 83% said they believe coding can build students’ creativity. It is very clear that teachers recognize the importance and benefits of technology education.

However, one-fifth of teachers said their students aren’t actually taught any computer science. These teachers say this is for a number of reasons: computer science isn’t part of their school’s curriculum, there is a lack of funding for it, and it’s not a subject students are tested on. The fact that computer science is completely excluded from one-fifth of schools in this survey highlights the clear disconnect between what teachers and society believe to be important – giving students digital skills to prepare them for the future – and the reality of what is actually happening in schools.

A second issue is that, even where computer science is present in schools, teachers feel underqualified when it comes to preparing students for a more digital future. Despite 88% of the teachers agreeing that computer science is critical, 30% felt underqualified and 20% felt overwhelmed. Teachers are clearly not receiving the support or opportunities for training necessary to bring technology education into their classrooms confidently.

Interestingly, it was the same sort of feedback that led to our offering at BSD Education. We spoke to a range of teachers from across the world and found that whilst most teachers recognize that technology education is vital for students to succeed in the future, it was difficult to deliver it effectively. To understand why this was the case, we conducted research, working directly with schools and students across a multitude of socio-economic, cultural and intellectual backgrounds. We found that whilst schools want to do more with technology, there are three fundamental barriers to integrating it effectively:

Confidence: Teachers don’t usually have a tech background and so can see it as risky and unfamiliar. Professional development for an area that is new and technical can be hard to access.
Content: Technology is constantly changing. Curriculum can, therefore, become quickly outdated.
Community: Teachers don’t have a community of practice or peers, with a core group of trained practitioners, to learn from and share ideas.

Based on this research, we have worked with thousands of students and teachers, including over 34,000 hours of in-classroom testing, to create a solution that drives the next generation of creative thinkers and problem solvers. To help schools integrate technology curriculum into all subject areas we provide them with:

An online teaching environment that gives teachers confidence by putting them in control of the learning experience.
Real world relevant curriculum that can be brought into every subject.
Professional development that enables every teacher to integrate technology into their classroom.

Our new year’s resolution is to bring this solution and create the community in and amongst ever more schools globally to help break the disconnect. Teachers know that technology education is vital. We just need to empower them and support them with the right tools to be in a position to deliver.

5 Technology Education Trends You’ll See in 2019

Written by Mo Qureshi of BSD Education

It’s nearly the end of the winter term! Every December our Education Team dedicate time to reflect on feedback to improve our curriculum and to research the new developments and trends in education to create our roadmap for our curriculum. Based on our recent research, we have identified these 5 trends in Technology Education.

1. Micro-credentials for STEM teachers

Growth in STEM and cross curricular projects in education has resulted in more teachers keen to infuse technology into their subjects. Most teachers, unlike in other subjects, have experienced no technology learning journey like they would be expected to teach today during their own education, and have not received training to teach it before. Because of this, they cannot reflect on their own learning, and don’t have a foundation of personal knowledge or professional development to refer back to. We find that, whilst most teachers recognize the importance of technology learning in education, it is not reasonable to expect them to feel equipped to deliver for their students without the proper professional learning activities being made available.

This then gives rise to the next issue that teachers are already short on time and so scheduling the time for courses is very difficult. Because of this we are seeing an increased interest in micro-credentials being created by universities to enable teachers to effectively teach STEM education in their classes. We are even seeing new “STEM Teacher” Masters courses arising that can be earned through a longer term accumulation of micro credentials, pursuable on a schedule that can fit to a working teacher’s time demands; in the end resulting in a recognized qualification. Many microdentials are carrrying professional development credit.

With each micro-credential addresses a fine-grained and discrete set of educational practices, they are proving an interesting bridge to a learning gap for teachers and we expect this to continue as a growing trend in 2019.

2. Growth of Computational Thinking in all subjects and grades

According to to the World Economic Forum’s Future of Jobs report, more than 65% of students entering primary school today will work in jobs that don’t exist yet. The ever increasing use of technology in industry, creation of new industries, access to internet enabled devices in life and in school, all set against the backdrop of an increasing range of global challenges, are just some of the changes that we already experience in life nowadays. This highlights the importance of teaching students a proven systematic method of problem solving – Computational Thinking.

We recently read the Computational Thinking for a Computational World report by Digital Promise, On page 22, the report connects Computational Thinking with the use of computers, “Computational thinking is both a skill to learn and a way to learn — to create, discover, and make sense of the world, often with computers as extensions and reflections of our minds.”

In addition to this we have seen the US K12 Computer Science framework (p.165) make specific reference to a cross curricular implementation of CS learning as being a key part of providing the most comprehensive “broad and deep exposure” for students.In 2019, we expect to continue to see more educational activities and lessons becoming geared towards or including developing Computational Thinking skills. Moreover, we also expect to see teachers working to embed these activities in subjects outside of Computing lessons, in fact increasingly, across all subjects.

3. Digital Citizenship
An increase in internet access and the proliferation of digital devices has augmented the rate of digital content creation, consumption and communication among students beyond what school curricula can keep up with.

In 2019 we expect to see parents and educators seeking further opportunities for professional learning and resources about methods to teach Digital Citizenship; for schools to develop their Digital Citizenship policies. Stay ahead of the curve by learning more about Digital Citizenship and taking these courses by Microsoft and Google.

4. Activities away from the screen
Integrating more technology in the education doesn’t mean that every activity should involve using a device. It is becoming increasingly understood that students need a balance of activities to develop all their senses and skills, as well as represent the online and offline relationship that technology has with the real world. Offline activities like unplugged activities help students understand and engage with the content, develop different learning styles like kinesthetic and tactile learning, encourage students to use their imagination and communicate face to face.

5. Personalized learning
It is well known that all students learn differently and at different paces, opportunities for personalized learning increases engagement and motivation, saves time and improves student results.

In 2019 you’ll see teachers personalize their students’ learning by using more applications of technology and data through online tools to let students define their own learning and outcomes. This will combine with existing trends in evolving principles of classroom design, teachers playing the role of facilitators and flipped learning, as well as using project based learning.

We are excited to see how teachers adopt these trends in their classrooms. BSD will be proud to release the culmination of its 2018 work with a brand new updated curriculum catalogue and resources.

If you are reading this and planning to implement any one of the above ideas in your classroom we would love to hear from you.

The missing soft skill: Empathy

Written by Charlotte Brearley of BSD Education

The P21 Framework for 21st Century Learning states that ‘Learning and innovation skills increasingly are being recognized as the skills that separate students who are prepared for increasingly complex life and work environments in the 21st century, and those who are not.’ It is clear that people can no longer rely solely on knowledge and so education must now focus on giving students the skills and attributes they need to succeed in a whole range of different contexts and situations.

The P21 Framework highlights creativity and innovation, critical thinking and problem solving, communication, and collaboration. Other lists include abilities and competencies like flexibility, self-learning and initiative. But there is one skill that is often missing – empathy.

Empathy is the action of understanding, being aware of, and being sensitive to the experience of another from either the past or present without having the feelings, thoughts, and experience fully communicated in an explicit manner. It enables people to identify the problems others are experiencing and then design solutions that actually meet their needs.

Given future jobs are likely to have a heavy reliance on problem-solving, empathy surely belongs on the lists of skills that students should focus on. But how do you develop someone’s empathy? Many people suggest it is something you are born with, that can’t be taught, but we disagree. Empathy can be practiced and, to some people’s surprise, it can be practiced when learning to use and build with technology.

How do you do this? Get your students to build solutions for real-world problems using technology.

Ask your students to think about a problem they encounter on a regular basis. Once they have thought about a problem for themselves, encourage them to consider whether this is a problem for other people and how this problem might affect different people in different ways to arrive at a specific problem that really needs to be solved. Let them spend real time on this. Once they have identified the specific problem, task them to create a solution that will work for and be used by a range of different people. To do this, they will have to demonstrate empathy.

As soon as you introduce a problem that affects real people, students have to really think about those people and understand their needs, often within a context very different to their own, before even being able to start to develop an effective solution. If they don’t do this and don’t demonstrate empathy, they will likely finish with a product that doesn’t solve the problem, does not present a solution to something people really feel is a problem, or perhaps solves the problem in a way that nobody will use.

There’s a reason why the best innovators are empathetic and problem finders: you can’t come up with new ideas unless you observe the world with fresh, empathetic eyes.

Empathy is a fundamental skill and mindset that all students need to develop. At BSD we build all our projects that students learn and create with to be real world and product focused. By bringing the real world into technology learning and getting students to build real products for real people and communities, you will give your students the opportunity to develop empathy.

Advantages of Real World Technology Camps: Roblox

Written by Mo Qureshi of BSD Education.

Roblox is a game-creation platform where students can design and upload their own games, as well as play other games in a multiplayer online environment. Roblox provides scripting tips and design elements through Roblox Studio – it’s free game creation platform to help budding designers create and contribute games and activities. Through the platform and its features, students develop skills like creativity, self direction, storytelling, coding, giving and taking feedback.

1. Learn how professionals build games

Using Roblox Studio to build games exposes students to real tools and techniques professionals use to develop games. Beginners who are keen to learn game design and haven’t learned to code yet can use the Roblox Studio’s game builder to create a game world of their own game environment, obstacles, difficulty levels and score systems.

Students with some experience or those interested to learn coding can use the coding language Lua to develop their own games on Roblox Studio. Coding a game gives the game developer control over the game dynamics and the ability to completely redefine the game, it’s movements and the game environment with fine precision. Coding the game also makes the game look and feel professional, and in this process students experience developing a game just like a professional developer would.

2. Learn to plan and think computationally

Building a game either by using a game builder or by coding it requires the game developer to think logically and systematically. In the planning phase, even before a game is developed, one needs to think about factors like the objective of the game, storyline, types of players to attract, obstacles players will encounter, difficulty levels the game will need and how players earn points.

When building the game, students will have to build each game component sequentially with great attention to detail. S/he will learn that a computer by itself isn’t intelligent so the instructions given to build each component have to be clear.

3. Storytelling

The best games are challenging yet fun with a compelling narrative and an objective to strive for. While developing the game and making key decisions like choosing the game character/s, difficulty levels, scoring system, etc, students will constantly have to ask themselves “why will a player start playing my game and continue playing it?”. The objective of the game with the narrative will help them answer this question.

During BSD camps, we have found that it is a helpful starting point to provide students examples of games with good narratives for inspiration. Then they spend up to one lesson writing down their game’s objective and narrative; then share this with their instructor and peers to get their feedback and improve it.

4. Self direction and creativity

Developing games is an inherently creative exercise. Students are engaging in imagining characters, worlds and experiences that don’t exist yet. Then they learn to use the right tools and techniques to bring their imagination to life.

To successfully build original games, students are given a high amount of autonomy, and are encouraged to test their ideas by building prototypes.

5. Problem solving

Working with technology tools and code requires students to be able to spot errors and solve them on their own. This methodical review develops their attention to detail, makes them process oriented and encourages self-reliant learning.

In BSD camps where there are always groups of students, they are encouraged to work in groups to solve problems collaboratively.

6. Learn to code

Learning how to code makes the students literate in 21st century skills and develops mindsets and behaviours like computational thinking, attention to detail, collaboration, creativity and problem solving. It empowers them to create their own tools and products using technology. It’s more than just a technical skill! <<Link to Eva’s article>>

Roblox games can be made unique by developing them using a coding language called Lua which is very similar to JavaScript and Python. Students can use the code editor to create custom actions, conditions, or game mechanics. In doing so they are exposed to programming concepts like loops, conditionals, arrays, and inheritance. Though earning Lua, students develop a transferable foundation that can assist their future transition to discover other coding languages more confidently.

7. User testing and feedback

After creating the first version of the game, students are asked to demo their game and share it with their peers for testing and feedback.

While their peers are playing their games, they are advised to observe how they play the game and request feedback. Based on their observations and peer feedback, students determine the priorities to improve their games.

This testing and feedback cycle is not limited to one time, it is repeated as often as needed to make the game perfect.

8. Digital citizenship

While developing and customizing their game, students will need to search for resources like images and tutorials online. They learn about image selection and audience appropriate content, copyright, royalty free images and the importance of crediting the work of others properly.

There is an overwhelming amount of evidence in education for the power of the real world to capture the minds of young learners. At the same time, no one can dispute the incredible popularity and fascination that children and adults share for fiction. Roblox has achieved a exceptional balance of creating a platform that has succeeded in marrying fantasy with reality in a platform that has the tools to introduce the real world through a user friendly package, intuitively constructed and able to maintain the focus of curious young imaginations.

Bring Digital Skills into Your Classrooms All Year Round

Written by Charlotte Brearley of BSD Education

The Hour of Code is a great opportunity to bring coding into your classroom and to introduce your students to some vital digital skills. You’ll see your students’ eyes light up as they discover what they can build and create and the likelihood is they’ll want to do more. With this in mind, it will benefit them to have opportunities to develop their digital skills throughout the school year as well.

So, how do you bring digital skills and coding into the classroom on a more regular basis?

Here are three ideas that can be used in your classroom immediately:

1. Encourage your students to “go digital” when doing assignments and class projects. Rather than drawing a poster, they could design a website or do a video presentation using Flipgrid. Bringing in digital approaches will not only develop students’ skills, but will also more closely align school projects with what students will have to do in the workplace.

2. Prompt students to think about how technology links to a range of subject areas. It is vital that students see how technology relates to almost everything in the real world and how it can be used to solve real problems. Ask questions to prompt their thinking. Covering biology? Ask how technology is used in medicine. Studying art? Look at digital artists. Technology is present in every walk of life and the sooner students connect their digital skills with the real world, the better.

3. Set up specific time for digital activities in your classroom. This could be weekly or monthly but make the time!

a.) You could use the slot for a combination of mini on-screen and unplugged activities throughout the semester.

b.) You could set your students a challenge that they can work on across the semester as a passion project.

Whatever format you choose, give students the opportunity to be creative and explore the many ways technology can be used by introducing them to a range of different resources.

At BSD we advocate for the use of real world technology projects in every classroom throughout the school year. We believe that regular exposure to technology in a range of different contexts is the best way to prepare students for using technology in their futures and to understand how to apply it in connection with their interests.

To see what BSD can do for you, contact us here.

What you need to know about the “Hour of Code”

Written by Mo Qureshi of BSD Education

All Your Questions on the “Hour of Code” Answered

What is the Hour of Code?

The Hour of Code is designed to show that anybody can learn the basics of code and to broaden participation in the field of computer science and technology.

When is the Hour of Code?

The Hour of Code takes place each year during Computer Science Education Week. This year Computer Science Education Week will be from 3rd to 9th December. But you can host an Hour of Code all year-round by registering on the Hour of Code website.

Why is the Hour of Code important?

Learning to code helps develop problem-solving skills, logic and creativity. Coding requires attention to detail, patience, and develops computational thinking skills and creativity.

There must be more to the “Hour of Code” than picking up skills?!

The skills are really not what we think is important about the Hour of Code, and you have likely already heard and read all the information extolling the virtues of the mindsets and methodologies of technology development before.

The important part about the “Hour of Code” is about giving as many young people the opportunity to try creating technology for themselves.

Why is it important to try creating with technology?

It’s true that most students won’t become programmers, and the reality is that only a small minority of jobs are even full-time programming jobs.

The important point is that all students will not only be using technology in their jobs in the future, but that it will be a fundamental requirement to become employed in a majority of cases.

Trying to create with technology is critical for everyone to have equal access to opportunity in the future.

How can understanding technology start a student’s pathway to opportunity?

Understanding the building blocks of technology, learning to code as we say, is a huge help in being able to understand the world around us and how technology is used and applied. Through this, it’s easier for young learners to think about what their greatest interests are for the careers that they will pursue in the future, as well as the technology that will evermore surround and be ubiquitous to every aspect of their lives. Identifying interests is an important first step to developing the passion to pursue them.

Why is technology so crucial to equal opportunity in the future?

For many years, the aspirations and dreams of young people have often been predicated on their grades, having a degree and even sadly the name or brand of the institution where they studied.

Fortunately, a world that is being driven by technology can be a world of innovation and creativity. You might have heard of the “Innovation Economy”. This will be driven by technology. Through technology, opportunity will be driven not by where it was learned or what grade was achieved, but by what has been delivered and whether it is something people like or choose to use. Opportunity in our future technology reality is not even about being present, people will be able to deliver from anywhere.

What unifies careers and access to opportunity for as many people as possible and particularly those that struggle to realise their dreams because they are in underserved communities, is technology. The ability to create it, apply it and solve problems for others with it.

Without experience of technology at a young age, without the ability to try to create, write a little code even, the door to these opportunities might never seem open and the reality of success might seem unattainable and distant.

The “Hour of Code” being experienced by everyone is not about groundbreaking new discoveries during an hour next week, it’s about levelling the playing field, making a future with tech seem less frightening and more attainable, and laying the groundwork for everyone to have the opportunity to all work towards groundbreaking and exceptional futures together. For the simple chance of realising this, an “Hour of Code” is an excellent investment.

What do I need to know to join the Hour of Code?

21st Century Tools for the Classroom: Quizzes & Videos

Written by Brandon Berthrong of BSD Education.

Formative assessment is an essential part of the learning process, allowing teachers to assess students understanding of concepts and learning needs. Here are a few of our favorite tech tools that can help make assessments fun for students and easy for teachers:

Quizizz:

Quizizz is simple to use, with easily customizable options and a smooth, intuitive interface. One of its unique features is the way it includes memes and player points/leaderboards in between questions. These options add a layer of fun to the experience and are implemented in such a way as to not distract from the material. Quizizz is simple and easy to use, perfect for creating fast, fun, engaging formative assessments. Students take quizzes individually, but teachers can monitor student progress in real time and download performance reports afterward.

Kahoot is less streamlined than Quizizz but offers a wider variety of content, including game types like Jumble, where students order items instead of selecting a multiple choice answer. Kahoot has “blind kahoots”, or quizzes designed to teach a concept rather than just test knowledge. Kahoot allows you to save performance data for each quiz just like Quizizz.

Kahoot’s main differentiating feature is that quizzes are taken as a whole class, with students engaging with one question at a time as a group. This wider variety of content and focus on group engagement make Kahoot perfect for stimulating class discussion and encouraging students to engage with each other to answer questions.

We like using Kahoot for larger reviews or when it’s other game modes are better suited to the subject matter, while using Quizizz to reinforce learning in small chunks that will allow students to move individually at their own pace.

The ability of both programs to easily save performance data can open up opportunities for things like keeping a class-wide term scoreboard, tracking individual improvement or highlighting areas that need work.

Video Lessons:

Edpuzzle is a platform that allows teachers to take videos and turn them into fully realized lessons. The biggest thing we love about EDpuzzle is how intuitive and easy to use it is; videos can be found, edited, and assigned within the application.

Teachers can search popular platforms like YouTube or browse collections of videos by subject and grade level. Teachers can cut the video, add voice-overs or insert in-video quiz questions.

These lessons can be used to break up lectures, review, or teach difficult concepts in the classroom, allowing teachers to take full advantage of the visual power of videos in their lessons. The in-video questions can be added throughout the lesson and therefore are ideal for formative assessments, allowing teachers to test for material comprehension as students learn or review.

How To: Make the Most of the Hour of Code

Written by Brandon Berthrong of BSD Education.

The Hour of Code is a world-wide grass-roots program built on the principle that everyone can code. They report that more than 640,000,000 people have participated in the program!

While Hour of Code can be done any time of the year, during computer science education week (December 3-9th) organizations from all over the world come together to participate in the program. Participants can do projects on the Hour of Code website or through several affiliated programs, through which they’ll complete various code-focused activities and projects.

The idea behind the program is to take an hour (though reportedly 87% of participants end up spending more time than that) to introduce people, particularly students, to the idea that they can code. While Computer Science can seem like a daunting field, through the hour of code students of all backgrounds are able to dispel some of the mystery surrounding it.

There’s a lot more that can be gleaned from the Hour of Code than just code though. Teachers and educators can also use different aspects of the Hour of Code itself as a teaching tool.

The School Demonstrating Technology in Action

As a school, it’s not just the participation, but also the way that you demonstrate your own use of technology in running your “Hour of Code” that can impart important concepts to the students.

The way you share about your school’s participation within the school’s network as well as through external digital media can set a strong example about digital marketing, and conveying messages to different groups of people.
Setting up video links and having students and staff in different schools work together during the hour of code can illustrate both the potential for and the power of collaboration in a digital age.
Polling students about their experience and how it can be improved next year can make them think about user experience and the importance of data.

All of these examples highlight the opportunity to give a far deeper real world context to the Hour of Code and allow students the chance to experience technology being applied.

Students Demonstrating Technology in Action

As well as participating, students can take simple steps themselves that reinforce the ways that technology is used in the real world.

Students can get experience with principles of digital marketing through the sharing of their completed projects with both peers and parents.
By interviewing each other before and after the program, students will be able to consider how the program can be improved for the following year, exposing them to user experience.
If some students formed an Hour of Code Committee, they could present the feedback from the interviews, giving hands-on experience with data analysis.
If you collaborate with another school, students could even compare the data from their respective schools.

In the real world, it’s not all about code, it’s about how technologies and humans come together to drive solutions. The code is, however, often the starting point, the consistent ingredient to mindsets and products.

In the same way, the “Hour of Code” can also be a lot more than just an hour of learning code. It can be the first ingredient in a hearty recipe for a broad and authentic experience with technology for both students and schools.

With computer science education week coming up, from December 3-9th, the hour of code is definitely something everyone should have on their radar. We’re going to have more articles next week with ideas and examples to get the most out of the Hour of Code, but for now, you can find more information about the Hour of Code program here, and find statistics and testimonials from last year here.

Learning through Play with Lego Mindstorms

Written by Xyra Sace of BSD Education

In a recent article we released in Issue #7, we talked about the advantages of extracurricular activities like Technology Camps on student learning; how it helps students develop to become well rounded young adults and the real world skills students acquire in camps such as Game Development.

Looking for Technology Camps for kids younger than 8 can be a challenge. Many organizations are trying to provide options for this age group because they see it as a business opportunity. However, there are a number of child developmental considerations when choosing programmes for younger children that should be taken into account. For example, children as young as 5 for will likely have difficulties in using a mouse, typing, remembering where the letters on the keyboards are, understanding the syntax of coding languages and let’s not forget the much shorter attention spans.

For young kids, we would recommend keeping the phrase “Learning through playing” front of mind. It has been long understood, through practical experience as well as academic work by e.g. Lev Vygotsky and Maria Montessori, that learning through play is a critical element for young children to develop key skills in language, emotion, creativity and social interaction, it pulls together the logical and creative areas of the brain.

In practical terms, we have found that introducing Technology with Lego Mindstorms to young kids is more effective than making them code early on. Even in children as young as 6 years old, we have found Robotics with Lego effective to expose them to both the principles and ideas of coding, like logic, and elements of engineering through robotics. The small parts in Lego Mindstorms challenge younger students developing motor skills and coordination.

Here’s some of the key benefits of Lego Mindstorms and what kids learn and build in a Lego Mindstorms Camp:

1.) Boosts empathy and awareness
In our camps, we ensure to kickstart it with a few intriguing questions: “What type of problems do you face in daily life?” “Are there more people who are facing the same problem?” and “What can we do to solve it?”. Prompting these questions helps young learners begin to consider their environment. This helps them think about the problems they would like robots to solve, these can be as simple as “retrieving an item across the room without having to leave a seat”.

2.) Nurtures Imagination and Creativity
When entering the brainstorming process you’ll get a room full of energy and 100 possible answers, this is the time to introduce feasibility. For example, If you need to retrieve an item from across the room, “what will you need?” You will likely need something with wheels on it to move and arms to pick it up. “Do you have these resources available?”.

3.) Introduces engineering
Lego Mindstorms encourages kids to build with more variety like gears and levers. It promotes engineering where students can take the various plastic pieces to construct robots, buggies, or devices, while ensuring they can physically “move” or “operate” together to successfully and repeatedly perform a task e.g. making sure none of the pieces fall when the robot moves from a spot to another. Some people opine that the best way to stimulate the maximum creativity in robotics is to first take away the option of using the wheels!

4.) Emphasizes teamwork
Building a robot is not easy for kids to finish alone. We encourage them to go in groups to accomplish robots together, even to seek help where they can observe adults nearby or in their class. We help them identify their strengths, as well as start to think about ideas like delegation and having a team leader. One kid can be in charge of putting the pieces together, while another can be in charge of coding the robot.

5.) Teaches programming concepts
When building a robot, it is important kids are aware that computers don’t and can’t think for themselves. All technology is based on code, no matter how complex it is. Lego Mindstorms runs on a visual programming environment, which is intuitive for kids because they simply need to imagine what their robot will do, and drag-and-drop plain language blocks into correct sequences using logic. There are on screen technologies to do this like Scratch, however they lack the physical interaction and immersive multi-sensory experience that kids get in creating and using a robot.

6.) Camps are a great opportunity to Improve presentation and public speaking skills
At the end of any technology camp, we find it’s a critical capstone event for kids to be able to present their product. Presenting a solution is just as important as making a solution! It is the culminating part of reflection on their experience, reinforcement of their learning and demonstrating important soft skills and pride in their work.

Here we have used Robotics as our example. However, the benefits of play based learning will be quite consistent in any camp that is science or technology based. You can be certain that your children will have a lot of fun and be highly engaged to light the spark to learn even more in the future.

If you’re interested in bringing our Technology Camps or After School Programs into your schools, let us know here or request a demo.