Robotics at CoderDojo Kingston University_October 2019
On Saturday the 12th of October, after the amazing buzz of the first CoderDojo of the season, I was ready to get back into action for the second CoderDojo at Kingston University.
I decided that I was going to run a similar workshop to the one delivered at my last Girls into Coding event, but this time in python. It introduced the new attendees to the Microbit and robotics, whilst giving some of the regular attendees an opportunity to explore python a bit more.
In preparation, I gathered some of my favourite ‘ingredients’ for the workshop including robots, Micro:bits, motors, wires and tools. In addition, I assembled and disassembled the robots, which was a fun and relaxing revision activity to get a feel of the workshop. Now I was ready!
On the day of the workshop, the attendees were quick to get their hands and minds involved with the engaging project, which was great to see! I feel they managed to get to grips with it and successfully made their way through the instructions. I made my way around all of them and encouraged & assisted when needed. I felt very confident in everyone’s ability to complete the task, and they all managed to get their robots up and running.
Some of the attendees had time to tinker around with the speeds and got to exchange ideas with each other. I got a fantastic sense of accomplishment, seeing the attendees’ satisfaction in their work. It was amazing to hear that some of the regulars had gone on to purchase Micro:bits of their own, so they can try doing projects like this at home.
In terms of the workshop itself, I think that slowly introducing python to the project was, and will be a good idea, as made clear by the great outcomes from the afternoon.
Overall, this workshop was really positive and I look forward to running my upcoming robotics workshop next month, where the students will learn how to programme in Micropython.
