Talk: Creative Coding for Kids .. (and Teachers and Parents)

Talk description

Title:	Creative Coding for Kids .. (and Teachers and Parents)
Short synopsis:	Being able to code is an important life skill. Inspiring children to learn to code means making it fun and relevant - and that's not easy. In this talk Tariq will focus on creative coding as a successful way of engaging children. He'll share lessons learned from teaching, bringing to life key ideas from maths, science, and art. He'll demo technology that's ideal for teaching, most of which are free, and the rest low cost. He'll do live coding to show how easy it is - bring a laptop if you can! Max size: 500 chars
Long synopsis (optional):	Being able to code is an important life skill - for everyone, not just professional programmers. We can only be empowered and informed citizens if we have some understanding of the increasingly digital world in which we live. That's why "Reading, Writing, and Coding" is the new direction for children's education. Inspiring children to learn to code means making it fun and relevant - and that's not easy. Many teachers and parents aren't confident in teaching something they themselves are new to. In this talk Tariq will focus on creative coding as a very successful way of engaging children. Creative coding is using code to create art, which could be hauntingly beautiful patterns on a display turned lovingly into ink on paper, computer generated music, 3d printing sculptures or robots performing machine-learned verse. He'll share lessons learned from his experience teaching younger children, older students and grown ups, including artists new to coding, bringing to life and making relevant important concepts from maths, science, computer science, music and art. He'll share inspiring stories of children who have found a new passion or talent, and will hopefully go on to study science, technology, engineering, art or maths (STEAM) subjects with even greater purpose. He'll also demonstrate modern technology that's ideal for teaching, most of which are free, and the remainder very low cost. He'll do live coding to show how easy it is, so easy that every single person in the audience can do it. In fact, you'll be encouraged to have a go in this session! The intended audience is parents, teachers, educators and anyone interested in taking their first steps into the fun and rich world of coding. Audience participation is encouraged but not essential, bring a laptop with a browser and working wifi. Attending this talk, you'll take away cost-effective and proven ideas for inspiring children to code. Tags: education, skills, digital literacy, teaching, creative coding, open source, web, music, STEM Max size: 5000 chars
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