Programming Just for Kids

Sharon Marzouk, Founder of Techy Kids

I have to start this post with a public statement:  Sharon, you were right.

Sharon who?

Meet Sharon Marzouk, whom I have dubbed the Duchess of Thymio.  (JK...Sharon is more of a mentor to me, and one I'm grateful to have.)

Sharon is the founder of Techy Kids, a Menlo Park based company that creates amazing lesson plans for kids to design, collaborate, code and present their inventions just like adult startup leaders do. Sharon is also the person who convinced me (and Tech EdVentures!) to make Thymio II the foundation of our early-elementary coding program.

There are two reasons.
First, the Thymio II is a great robot which comes equipped with sensors, speakers, a microphone and even an accelerometer.  It's a tremendous collection of technology that is presented in a friendly, well constructed package that appeals to kids.

Kids drag and drop icons...while the code auto-populates!

Second, Thymio uses a little-known platform called ASEBA.  Kids as young as Kindergarten age can program Thymio by moving drag and drop icons within a friendly user interface.  At the same time, ASEBA's interface is writing actual computer code.  Kids quickly see that for every icon they manipulate that have written a new line of code.  This makes it easy for kids to scaffold up to their next level of skills by typing precise directions with a keyboard.  ASEBA's combination of a simple interface and a sophisticated program environment sets Thymio head and shoulders above many 'bots including Legos Mindstorms, and helps kids learn to code sooner than they would otherwise.

That, in the end, is the shared mission of Techy Kids and Tech EdVentures.  We want to see young kids develop sophisticated skills so that they can take their place as leaders, inventors and entrepreneurs.   Just like Sharon! 

Allen Selis, 
Founding Director
Tech EdVentures

Tech EdVentures is blogging from the road as part of our recent visit to Silicon Valley. All that effort, just to bring cool content to you.  You can thank us by like-ing our FB page, OK?

Tech EdVentures Brings STEM Skills to School

So what did you do on your first day of class?

At Akiba Academy of Dallas, Sixth grade students took a break from their first day of school to wire circuit boards, power up low-voltage LED's and connect a PC-based integrated development environment to a microprocessor.  They'll be programming it in C++ starting next week, lead by staff from Tech EdVentures.

Did you say "first day of school?"

Our first day experience with the kids from Akiba confirms what national thought leaders are saying about STEM education.  Younger kids have tremendous aptitude and interest in technology.  The hands-on approach that we takes appeals to adolescents' natural curiosity. And once kids get their hands on a problem, they tune in to the finer points of math and science and are motivated to work hard.

Today's group of sixth grade boys and girls discussed the difference between anode and cathode leads as well as the physics that make LED's work in the first place.  Next week we'll bring resistors into the circuit, and students will start to adapt C++ sketches for the microprocessor that is illuminating their creations.

It's clearly going to be an exciting year for both Akiba and for Tech EdVentures.

Allen