Coding Kids Regional Tour

Coding Kids has been travelling around regional Queensland, delivering coding and robotics workshops for students, as well as professional development workshops for teachers. We had the chance to visit nine different locations:

• Thursday Island
• Longreach
• Mt Isa
• Ingham
• Cairns
• Rockhampton
• Bundaberg
• Kingaroy
• Gympie
• Noosa
• Thargomindah
• Charters Towers

Here's a summary of some of the things that we got up to over the course of our regional tour:

THURSDAY ISLAND

When: 5-7 September 2017Where: Torres Shire Council, Ngulaig Meta LibraryWho: Emily and KierenHow: Funded by Torres Shire Council (funding from State Library of Queensland) and Coding Kids (in-kind)How Much: $9900 (excluding GST)What we did:

• A total of 8 robotics workshops over 2 days

Who we worked with:

• 7 teachers
• 200+ students

o   Both primary school and high school studentsTopics we covered:

• Ozobot             
• JD Humanoid Robot    
• HexaPod Ezrobot
• Adventure Bot Ezrobot
• Teacher PD

Click here to learn more about the Thursday Island event.

LONGREACH (first visit)

 When: 6 & 7 June 2017Where: Longreach Civic Centre, and Longreach State SchoolWho: EmilyHow: Funded by Department of Science, Information Technology and Innovationand Coding Kids (in-kind) (excluding GST)How Much: $2200 (excluding GST)What we did:

• A total of 5 coding workshops over two days

Who we worked with:

• 180 participants (including teachers, students and parents)

Topics we covered:

• Scratch
• Tynker
• Teacher PD

Click here to learn more about the Longreach event. 

LONGREACH (second visit)

When: 13 & 14 August 2018Where: Longreach State School, Longreach State High School, Our Lady’s Catholic Primary School, Qantas Museum, Longreach Library, Pastoral College and Longreach Civic Centre.Who: 14 instructorsHow: Funded by Department of Science, Information Technology and InnovationWhat we did:

• 11 full-day workshops each day over two days

Who we worked with:

• 800+ participants (including teachers, students from Prep to year 9, and parents)

Topics we covered:

• Scratch & robotics
• Python & Micro:bit

Click here to learn more about the Longreach event. 

Mt. ISA

When: 28 & 29 August 2017Where: Mt Isa Civic Centre, and Mt Isa Central State SchoolWho: EmilyHow: Funding by Department of Science, Information Technology and Innovationand Coding Kids (in-kind)How Much: $3500 (excluding GST)What we did:

• A total of 9 workshops over 2 days

Who we worked with:

• 135 participants (both students and teachers)

o   Includes primary school, high school, and special (high) school studentsTopics we covered:

•  Scratch
•  Tynker
•  Teacher PD

Click here to learn more about the Mt. Isa event. 

INGHAM

When: 8 & 9 October 2018Where: Hinchinbrook Christian School and Ingham State High SchoolWho: EmilyHow: Funded by teraDigital, Hinchinbrook Christian College, Ingham State School, Ingham State High School.How Much: $295 (excluding GST) per participantWhat we did:

• Teacher PD workshops over two days:

• Digital Technologies with Scratch & Makey Makey for primary school teachers
• Digital Technologies with Python & Micro:bit for high school teachers

Who we worked with:

• over a dozen participants

Topics we covered:

• Digital Technologies with Scratch & Makey Makey
• Digital Technologies with Python & Micro:bit
• Teacher PD

CAIRNS

When: 31 May 2017Where: Pullman Reef Hotel, CairnsWho: EmilyHow: Funded by Department of Science, Information Technology and InnovationHow Much: $2000 (excluding GST)What we did:

• 3 workshops over the course of 1 day

Who we worked with:

• 40 participants

Topics we covered:

• Tynker (with the primary school students)
• Teacher PD

Click here to learn more about the Cairns event. 

ROCKHAMPTON

When: 17 May 2017Where: Rockhampton Regional LibraryWho: EmilyHow: Funded by Department of Science, Information Technology and InnovationHow Much: $2000 (excluding GST)What we did:

• 2 workshops over the course of 1 day

Who we worked with:

• 25 participants

Topics we covered:

• Tynker (with the primary school students)
• Teacher PD)

Click here to learn more about the Rockhampton event. 

BUNDABERG

When: 20 June 2017Where: Bundaberg Civic CentreWho: EmilyHow: Funded by Department of Science, Information Technology and InnovationHow Much: $2000 (excluding GST)What we did:

• 1 workshop over the course of 1 day

Who we worked with:

• 15 participants

Topics we covered:

• Tynker (with the primary school students)
• Teacher PD

Click here to learn more about the Bundaberg event. 

KINGAROY

When: 8-10 August 2017Where: Saint Mary's Catholic College, Kingaroy; St Patrick’s Primary School, Nanango; and Kingaroy State High SchoolWho: Emily, Elnaz and RedHow: Funded by Engaging Science Grants (Advance Queensland)How Much: $9600 (excluding GST)What we did:

• 11 workshops over the course of 3 days

Who we worked with:

• Over 250 participants (both students and teachers)

o   Primary school and high school studentsTopics we covered:

• Scratch
• Python
• Teacher PD

Click here to learn more about the Kingaroy event. 

GYMPIE

When: 12 August 2016Where: Gympie LibraryWho: Emily and BillyHow: Funded by Gympie Library ServicesHow Much: $1,156 (excluding GST)What we did:

• 1 full-day workshop

Who we worked with:

• 4 librarians

Topics we covered:

• Scratch
• Makey Makey
• Lego Mindstorms EV3
• LittleBits

Click here to learn more about the Gympie event.

NOOSA

When: 17 & 18 August 2017Where: Sunshine Beach High SchoolWho: Thomas and LeviHow: Funded by Engaging Science Grants (Advance Queensland) and supported by Noosa Library staffHow Much: $2996 (excluding GST)What we did:

• 4 workshops over the course of 2 days

Who we worked with:

• Nearly 100 participants (both students and teachers)

o   Year 8 studentsTopics we covered:

• Arduinos
• Spheros

Click here to learn more about the Noosa event. 

COOROY

When: 18 July 2016Where: Cooroy LibraryWho: Emily and JocelynHow: Funded by Noosa Library ServicesHow Much: $1500 (excluding GST)What we did:

• 1 full-day workshop

Who we worked with:

• 7 librarians

Topics we covered:

• Scratch
• Makey Makey
• mBots
• LittleBits

Click here to learn more about the Cooroy event. 

GOLD COAST

When: 23-24 January 2016Where: Elanora LibraryWho: Emily, Billy and ElnazHow: Funded by City of Gold CoastHow Much: $3818 (excluding GST)What we did:

• 2 full-day workshops

Who we worked with:

• 9 librarians

Topics we covered:

• Learning to code with Scratch
• Inventing and using design thinking with InnoBits and LittleBits
• Programming Dash and Dot robots
• Programming Spheros SPRK+
• Learning to code with App Inventor
• Learning to code with Python
• Building your own programs with Kano computers
• Programming with Raspberry Pis

Click here to learn more about the Gold Coast event. 

Thargomindah

When: 20-21 November 2017Where:  Thargomindah State SchoolWho:   Kieren and ZachHow: Funded by the Engaging Science Grants (Advance Queensland)How Much:  $9200 (plus gst)What we did:

• 2 full-day workshops

Who we worked with:

• Local school students, primary and secondary
• Teacher PD

Topics we covered:

• Ozobot robots
• Makey Makey
• Scratch
• Unplugged activities
• Scratch Jr

Charters Towers

When: 22-23 November 2017Where: Excelsior LibraryWho:  Levi and EmilyHow: Funded by the Engaging Science Grants (Advance Queensland)How Much:  $9500 (plus gst)What we did:

•         2 full-day workshops

Who we worked with:

• Local school students, primary and secondary
• Teacher PD

Topics we covered:

• Lego Mindstorm EV3 robots
• Makey Makey
• Scratch
• Python
• Ozobots

 [embed]https://youtu.be/yeotrIi5OvA[/embed]