More than 40 elementary and middle school students graduated from the first FGCU Coding Academy, a pilot program launched to spark interest in programming among youngsters who could potentially go on to develop tomorrow’s must-have app or to engineer better robotic medical devices that improve lives.
The event was organized by the FGCU mathematics faculty and sponsored by Arthrex Inc. of Naples, the global medical device company and leader in new product development and medical education in orthopedics.
”In a short time and with limited advertising, we had an outpouring of support and participation from FGCU and Arthrex,” said Associate Professor Jafar Ali Shahul Hameed.
Lee and Collier County students entering seventh and eighth grades participated in three days of hands-on activities and team-building exercises led by math faculty members Tanya Huffman, Senthil B. Girimurugan, Menaka Navaratna and Hameed. First, they built Kano computers from kits using their current knowledge of technology to set up circuit boards and cables. Then they learned how to use command language, how to modify aspects of an existing program by issuing specific parameters, how to recognize patterns in code and how to write algorithms.
“Arthrex and FGCU want kids to learn and start to enjoy programming at a very early age,” said Girimurugan, an assistant professor. “The goal is to plant a thought in a kid’s mind at a young age, so it grows with the child.”
Elementary students as young as fourth grade attended a one-day camp where they were introduced to the programming language Scratch. They learned to write a program and programmed their own animated stories involving sprites, tiny graphics that serve like cartoon characters. Campers used Lego WeDo kits to build mechanical devices and then program them using Scratch to move the robots and react using sensors.
Arthrex employees Dennis O’Keefe, Matt Krueger and Danny Beard provided assistance throughout the week. Both groups also toured FGCU’s robotics lab.
The Coding Academy introduced youngsters to the sense of discovery that comes with understanding how technology works, according to camp director Huffman.
“Coding is becoming one of the essential literacies in the 21st century education,” she said. “Kids nowadays are constantly using technology — smartphones, tablets, apps, video games, websites — but very few of them are learning how to create and design programs. When a child sees his or her work brought to life, as simple as programming an animation or a robot, the light bulb goes on. It’s that ‘aha’ moment when everything becomes clear, the fog lifts and kids start to understand how software and its algorithms work.”
- Learn more about FGCU’s programs in mathematics and FGCU’s Whitaker Center for Science, Technology, Engineer and Mathematics Education