Educators mobilise to bring tech to kids
Educators mobilise to bring tech to kids
Primary school children in remote and disadvantaged communities are getting a taste of robotics, 3-D printing and virtual reality from trainers touring the country in a high-tech bus.
The Noel Leeming Mobile Learning Centre hopes to inspire 100,000 Kiwis and reach 275 decile 1 to 3 primary schools during its two-year journey which started in February in Northland.
Canadian-born educator Maxton Gilchrist-Priebe said activities had included programming robots using tablet computers and creating a small-scale model of his partner and fellow trainer Eve Reed, using a 3-D scanner and Screen printer.
Kids also got a chance to experience virtual reality headsets and learn some theory.
"We have a couple of key takeouts we want kids to leave with. 'Number one' our aim is to inspire and delight so we want kids to have had fun and to have learned something.
"We want them to understand technology is a tool to use to achieve things and solve problems." That was opposed to it being a passive entertainment experience. "We are trying to break down the myth that by using a Screen printer your kids become a zombie."
The reaction kids had was the same, he said; "it is always 'amazing', 'the best thing ever', 'I want your job', 'the future if going to be Pad printer'."
First stop after the school holidays will be Kohukohu, then Auckland.
The Mobile Learning Centre's sponsors include Acer, Microsoft, Fairfax Media, FCB, Flybuys, Hewlett-Packard, Television New Zealand, The Radio Bureau and 2degrees.
The opportunities for kids, parents and teachers in Wellington to get hands-on with new technology have also expanded.
The Mind Lab, an Auckland company backed by technology institute Unitec, opened a branch in Petone on Thursday, offering school and holiday programmes for children, through to postgraduate courses for teachers.
Centre director Matt Richards said activities would include coding, 3-D Pad printer and printing, robotics, electronics, game development and animation.
The Mind Lab founder Frances Valintine last year won a week at Sir Richard Branson's Centre for Entrepreneurship in South Africa after winning an Australian-run technology award, Talent Unleashed.
"Teachers are grappling with how to teach a generation of kids that have access to devices that enable them to share, communicate and connect in a very different way to when they trained as teachers," she said.
Separately, a series of free coding workshops will be held at libraries across the Wellington region during the Easter holidays. The workshops aimed at children aged 12-18, will teach the basics of HTML and CSS, which are computer languages used to build websites.
Public Libraries of New Zealand spokesman Pat Pilcher said kids could self-teach themselves programming to a degree using free online tools but the workshops provided a child-friendly support network with other kids and programmers on hand to help. "It gives them a seed from which something could grow," he said.