AIM HIGH PARTNERS WITH CODE CLUB TO DEVELOP NEW PROGRAM

Friday, 22 April 2016

A new digital activity developed through collaboration between the AIM HIGH program and Code Club Australia is being piloted at the University of Newcastle (UON) later this month.

Cubes

Digital Day Out is an on-campus experience for Year 6 students and their family members that aims to go beyond the surface ‘fun’ of digital products.

Student groups will work alongside university students to rotate through different activities that have a particular focus on computational thinking that link back to mathematics and coding curriculum.

Matt Lumb from the Centre of Excellence for Equity in Higher Education says Digital Day Out is all about giving students access to powerful knowledge of how to create worlds, in addition to playing games with technology.

“It’s about providing a glimpse of the tools students can use to build the future architecture of our very society. I like Code Club’s motto: Program or Be Programmed”. We are also running workshops with family members to explore ways they can support their children to stay engaged with education, including new curriculums such as coding and computational thinking,” he explains.

AIM HIGH has partnered with Code Club to help execute the new program that is specifically designed to allow schools and communities to stay connected after the day on campus.

“Firstly our partnership with Code Club means there will be volunteers there that can help schools or families start their own clubs if there is interest and enthusiasm on the day,” says Mr Lumb.

“Secondly, Digital Day Out uses low cost devices and free visual programming languages so that it is easier for schools to set up and support clubs of their own. We are also running teacher workshops on the day to suggest how to develop a unit of work around coding that is orientated towards understanding challenges in the real world,” he adds.

Digital Day Out will run on Thursday April 28 and Friday April 29 with approximately 180 students and family members expected each day.


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