Coding camp aims to bridge the digital divide
Instead of dancing and singing, ‘we get to build and learn’
Kareena Nemsen admits she doesn’t know much about computer science, but when the 10-year-old heard about a free coding camp being offered at her school in South Riverdale this summer, she was one of the first students to sign up.
“I think we get to make really cool stuff,” said Kareena, who is in Grade 5 at Dundas Junior Public School and says she has never attended a summer camp. “We’ll get to play with stuff we don’t get to play with at home.”
Classmate Liana Petrova, 10, who has been to summer arts camps, is also intrigued.
“Instead of dancing, singing and mak- ing art, we’ll get to build and learn,” she said. “It will be good for our future.” The girls were among more than 1,000 students grades 3 to 8 from the Toronto District School Board who spent the day Tuesday exploring robotics, engineering and digital technology at Go North, the University of Toronto’s annual celebration of Science, Techology, Engineering and Math or STEM.
The event, the largest of its kind in Canada, was staged by the university’s faculty of applied science and engineering in partnership with Google Canada and Actua, a national charity that promotes STEM education for kids. The day was loaded with hands-on learning opportunities, including the chance to fly drones, operate Lego robots and play virtual reality games.
Students were also challenged to design the ideal city of the future with the help of a U of T engineering student.
But Tuesday was just a taste of what students in South Riverdale will experience this summer at the faculty’s latest coding camp in a new university-funded digital technology lab opening in Dundas public school in July.
The free day camp, one of 102 day and overnight camps supported by the Toronto Star’s Fresh Air Fund, expects to serve about 400 students from the school who might not otherwise be able to afford to attend.
“It’s really safe to say that without the generous funding of the Toronto Star Fresh Air Fund, these programs would not be free for these kids,” said Dawn Britton, associate director of engineering outreach for the university, which runs the camp.
“We don’t ask for any disclosure of income. It’s acknowledged this is a community needing support, so we’re there,” she added.
The faculty has been running free coding camps in Rexdale and Malvern on and off for the past 10 years and the Fresh Air Fund has been involved from the beginning, Britton said.
This year, the fund is also supporting a new coding camp at John Polanyi Collegiate that will serve about 400 students from grades 3 to 8 in Lawrence Heights.
While the term “coding” may sound intimidating, Britton says it is no more complicated than a recipe to bake a cake.
“You can’t stir the bowl of flour and eggs until you have added the egg and the flour,” she said. “It is all about structured, or ordered thinking.”
If the children are creating a video game, they might go outside and play the game first, Britton said. Then, they would write down everything they did and talk about the “variables” or what did and didn’t work, she added.
“This is all about getting kids enjoying STEM from a very young age and seeing how it connects with their lives,” said Actua CEO Jennifer Flanagan. “It is especially important for kids facing socioeconomic challenges.”
An Actua survey released last week, shows young Canadians from all income groups are interested in learning how to code and use digital technologies.
But those from lower income households are less likely to say they have opportunities to learn these skills, the survey shows.
“The coding camp came about because there was this real need — and interest — from the school which said, we really want to bring digital skills and coding to our students,” Britton said about the Dundas school initiative.
As Google Canada computer scientist Melissa Dominguez told the students at U of T this week: “Computer Science is not just the language of ones and zeros. It’s the language of creativity, entrepreneurship and potential.”
Federal Science Minister Kirsty Duncan, who was also at the event, marvelled at the students’ enthusiasm.
“All children are born curious. They want to discover, they want to explore, pull apart whatever is nearby, they want to know how it works,” she said in an interview. “It’s our job to foster that through elementary, and high school and hopefully beyond,” she said. “We know STEM skills will be important in the future and we want every child to have an opportunity.”
The Toronto Star’s Fresh Air Fund aims to raise $650,000 to send 25,000 kids to camp this summer.
“All children are born curious. They want to discover, they want to explore ... they want to know how it works.” DAWN BRITTON ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR OF ENGINEERING OUTREACH