Teach the Kids Coding!

Lær Kidsa Koding! (Teach the Kids Coding!) is a volunteer movement which aims to give children and teachers a better understanding of technology and make them conscious about their own use of and consumer of technology. The crash course held in Kristiansand is a collaborative project between Aftenskolen, the Kristiansand public library, the institute of information technology at the University of Agder, the student communities Open Source UiA and Systematicus, as well as volunteer IT-experts from the companies Edge Consulting and Bitfrost AS. Done as an evening activity, all the organizers in the project are volunteers, with Open Source UiA president Tor Borgon and Aftenskolen’s Clare Jortveit in the lead.

The project is open or children between the age of 8 and 14, and offers two different levels to cater for both beginners and more advanced coders. For the youngest and freshest coders, they introduce Scratch – a visual and colorful coding language where you learn by creating interesting effects or exciting games – such as Flappy Bird! For the older or more experienced coders, they can offer Lego Mindstorms, where the participants learn to code self-made robots.

Lasting for three evenings across six weeks, the participants get a unique opportunity to explore a side to technology many of them have yet to see. Still, it was an invested and inspired group which showed up to every meeting, and with every task they grew quicker and more willing to add their own creative tweaks to the pre-made tasks. A young boy, after having created his first Flappy Bird game, exclaimed that the project had made him want to become a programmer to further pursuit coding.