Here’s some of the publicly available assets I’ve built over the years :
KidzCanCode – One of the major challenges i faced as a volunteer during the initial days when running CoderDojo Altona North (kids codeclub) was having to remember which website or web resource to navigate to when working with a parent / child team. To remedy that situation, I built (& currently maintain) a STEM learning portal that consolidates useful learning resources on coding, robotics, electronics, 3D Printing, etc. from all over the web. Over the years I have also developed learning content of my own which is now accessible for free through the portal. You can access all of these learning resources for free through https://www.kidzcancode.com and https://learning.kidzcancode.com.
The STEM learning resources at KidzCanCode are used by the kids, parents in class on a weekly basis at CoderDojo Altona North. Parents and kids work through the coding, robotics, electronics, 3D printing, etc. challenges hosted at KidzCanCode. All of the resources at KidzCanCode are accessible for free by anyone from anywhere in the world.
STEM Learning Roadmap – To make it easy for volunteers and parents at CoderDojo Altona North I have pulled together a STEM Learning Roadmap that attempts to provide insight into how we might navigate through different STEM learning challenges we offer in class. The amount of learning content available out there, combined with the kits, hardware we have in class makes it really difficult for the new volunteer or parent at CoderDojo Altona North. This STEM Learning Roadmap is just that, a loosely defined roadmap that attempts to provide direction and options with regards to the nature of challenges we might consider when working with a parent / child team.
However when making a decision with regards to which challenge to get the parent / child team to work on i would consider factors including but not limited to – the child’s ability to read and write, the individual child’s interests, any prior STEM learning experience the child might have, any prior interest the child has shown with regards to the STEM challenges we have to offer, the child’s ability to take on complex STEM challenges, including the nature of challenges that would provide the child a suitable stretch in terms of learning.
Access the STEM Learning Roadmap at the following link – STEM Learning Roadmap.
Getting Started with Robotics & Electronics – Whether you are parent keen to get your child into robotics, electronics or a teacher wanting to introduce your kids to the basics of robotics, electronics, identifying a suitable approach that might work for your kid(s) can be really daunting. You already have a number of decisions to make i.e. agree on suitable learning outcomes, workout the level of complexity for the challenge, identify a suitable learning path and then pick a suitable learning platform or kit that you might make use of. All of this requires significant amount of time, effort from a research standpoint.
To make things more challenging every electronics store has shelves lined with “Smart Robots” that claim to provide just the right STEM learning challenges. I have asked myself those very similar questions many times over the years and have mostly struggled to land on good enough answer…..until now. I volunteered to give a presentation at the Melbourne Raspberry Pi Makerspace (monthly meetup) where i spoke about getting kids of all ages started with robotics, electronics using the Otto DIY Biped Robot. Check out the presentation here, make it easy for your child (and yourself to get into robotics, electronics) – Get started with robotics, electronics using the Otto DIY Biped Robot
