[hackerspaces] Hackerspaces for Kids

[David Raison]

Hi David

We at syn2cat have a very similar goal, teaching kids and teens about
the fun in technology, but also offering alternate leisure activities
for kids who, like us in the past, don't go to soccer practice or music
school because they care for computers or electronics (only there is
nobody teaching them about that)

Now, our goals are clearly inspired by CCC's U23 section, which is why
we have shamelessly used that label as well.
(https://www.hackerspace.lu/wiki/Projects#U23_section)
Some of the goals are stated in our concept draft
(https://www.hackerspace.lu/wiki/Concept#U23_-_Guiding_youth.2C_imparting_knowledge)
and some of the things we've already done or are planning to do are on
several other wiki pages:

* https://www.hackerspace.lu/wiki/JugendSummer2009 unfortunately, this
one is in French (as it had to be included in a French catalogue) but
the idea is to build that very arduino-based vehicle, as suggested by
the gentleman that you can see on the bottom of the page
* https://www.hackerspace.lu/wiki/CDays2009 (this page is in English) We
had a booth at a college, showing pupils about things like drawdio,
arduinos and more stuff.

More stuff we're looking into is for example Holiday Weekends based on
robotics, electronics etc... I'm hoping that we can base to things on
the existing Luxembourgish infrastructure for holiday camps and that we
may broaden our cooperation with that para-governmental organisation.

cheers,
David



David Powell wrote:
> One of the goals that I would like to achieve with Harford Hackerspace
> is to create a fun learning experience for kids much like Boy Scouts,
> Girl Scouts, or Summer Camp but with the focus on Science and
> Electronics.
>
> I would like to hear some ideas from you guys about how I can learn
> about what excites kids when it comes to Electronics. I've tried teach
> my own kids in the past and they did not seem to interested. My guess
> is that I was trying to teach them too much too fast and I took all
> the fun right out of it.
>
> I would like to design a curriculum which consist of 1 to 1.5 hour
> sessions one day a week. These sessions would teach the fundamentals
> of electricity and electronics with a bunch of inexpensive hands on
> projects. Hopefully each kid could take home a project every week to
> show their parents.
>
> Some experiments that I have in mind are:
>
> - Magnets and iron powder to demonstrate Magnetic Flux.
> - Lemon Battery using a Penny and a Nail (Kids can bring their own
> stuff to reduce cost)
> - Solar Cells
>
> I figure that every day can not be a take home project day. So I am
> also looking for lecture ideas as well. Probably something that would
> contain lots of pictures and videos.
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