Since last summer I have the nice privelege to teach kids the basics of programming and robotics. Supporting kids in their own learning (creative and technical) proces. So far this has been a huge and fun learning experience for me.
Kids can use step-by-step manual instructions and through ‘experimenting’ and ‘explorations’. ,,Go push all those buttons and see what happens.” This comes in handy specially when ‘solving problems’ (errors and mailfunction). ,,What could it be? Any idea?” Take a careful look. ,,Could it be the wheel (too big or too small)? Or the wrong type of code? Try another wheel or try a different code 😉 And test it out.”
Trained and educated as an autonomne artist, I – almost instinctively – ask questions like; “What do you want to create, solve, achieve, to try out and/or learn?” And if there’s one thing I’ve learned so far; no child is the same, learns in the same way or finds the same things interesting.
So everytime my well-prepared plans for classes fail, I keep focussing on the big picture; to introduce children to technology and programming in a fun way. Fortunately, this can be done in different ways and with different learning resources.
STUDIO ABBY MEIER 