Over the past 12 months YPRL has formed a partnership with Robogals, an award-winning volunteer organisation based at the University of Melbourne. Robogals volunteers are university students, and they offer engineering and technology workshops free-of-charge to local communities. Robogals create opportunities for young people to explore and develop an interest in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics), with a particular goal to inspire, engage and empower young women into engineering and related fields.
YPRL had the pleasure of inviting Robogals to be part of the Science Month Program this August, where a team of Robogals volunteers helped to facilitate an event at Ivanhoe Library and Cultural Hub, where kids had fun coding LEGO EV3 robots!
In addition to running special robotics events, Robogals have also supported us by helping to lead our regular coding classes, which are offered at our Ivanhoe and Diamond Valley Libraries, and online. These classes are primarily for children between 8-12 years old – but parents are also welcome to join in!
Code Club: Scratch for Beginners at Ivanhoe Library sessions:
Code Club: Scratch for Beginners 7+ at Diamond Valley Library sessions:
In our regular coding classes we use Scratch, a visual programming language developed especially for kids. Scratch is a great starting point that leads more advanced languages such as Python and Java Script, and used in popular robotics.
Here are some excellent books to get you started in coding!
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Ready, Set, Code! : coding activities for kids by Heather Catchpole
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Girls who code: learn to code and change the world by Reshma Saujani
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Coding for beginners using Scratch: simple coding for absolute beginners by Rosie Dickins
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Crack the code! : activities, games, and puzzles that reveal the world of coding by Sarah Hutt
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A world of computers and coding by Clive Gifford
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Coding with HTML and JavaScript: create epic computer games by Max Wainewright
