Create and Collaborate with Code
24 September 2016.
Providence, RI.
Presenters: Arnell & Mathias Millhouse
One of the most engaging and motivating professional development activities that I have attended this year was co-presented by a thirteen year old.
To be fair, Mathias isn’t an ordinary thirteen year old. His father, Arnell Milhouse, is the founder and executive director of Intracity Geeks, an organization devoted to “teach everyone in urban environments coding and entrepreneurship”. The mission is to help residents of urban areas to become successful, with an emphasis on encouraging women and people of color to develop the skills they need for careers in technology.
In a partnership with the Providence After School Alliance and the Brown Computer Science Department, Intracity Geeks runs after school programs for students to ignite their interest in technology (click here for the article).
On a spectacular Saturday, September 24, 2016, The Media Smart Libraries program sponsored two free open to the public, drop in, family events called “Create and Collaborate with Code!” The first event took place at the Providence Public Library at 10 am and was facilitated by FabNewport. The second event, at Knight Memorial Library in Providence, was facilitated by IntraCity Geeks, and attracted families from a variety of locations, including Barrington.
At the children’s room in Knight Memorial Library in Providence, about 20 children of varied ages enjoyed a brief introduction to computational thinking. Milhouse urged the children to give him specific instructions in the same precise way that a coder needs to give instructions to a computer. Through trial and error and laughter, the kids gave Milhouse instructions to walk a certain number of steps,to lift his arm to receive a cell phone, and other tasks that seem easier when you don’t have to code them precisely.
Milhouse then introduced the kids to the Scratch site. Scratch is a visual programming language developed at MIT in order to teach people the principles of computer programming and computational thinking. Milhouse’s son Mathias oriented the attendees to navigate the site and directed them to some games that he had coded himself in order to facilitate understanding for others (Mathias’ page is here). Mathias had programmed a version of a Pokemon Go! Game, which is possibly the most motivating learning tool ever.
I am looking forward to the next collaborative program between the Media Smart Libraries and Intracity Geeks. I also can’t wait for my next opportunity to learn from Arnell Milhouse or his amazing thirteen year old collaborator.
Learn more about Intracity Geeks here.