I worked at a start up called BlueSHIFT coding to design a curriculum and a set of workshops for children to learn how to code.
The children were aged 7 to 11 and worked with technologies such as Scratch, Java Greenfoot, HTML/CSS and Processing.
A part of the job I was also required to design physical computing workshops aimed at children.
The kids were able to design and build their own keyboard using cardboard, copper tape, a makey makey kit and Scratch software.
The keyboards looked like this:
Another workshop on offer was inviting the kids to hack their teddy bears, using light sensors, LEDs, speakers and a breadboard and arduino. They designed their own interactions with the toy and assembled the whole project as well as wrote the arduino code to make it work.
The older children designed a laser instrument, where they could pluck a laser like they'd pluck a normal string instrument. It used a laser beam and a light sensor to detect plucking. A distance sensor would pick up the position of their other hand to decide what pitch to play upon plucking. And arduino would then synthesize the computed pitch and send the signal to a speaker. The whole project sat in a cigar box as an enclosure.
They first learnt about each of the components involved and made simple prototypes to learn how each is used before using them all in the final product. It was all assembled and programmed by the children, and many chose to remix the initial brief to make their own version of it.
