This week was more laidback than my previous 2 weeks. Despite this, it was still far from uneventful. I was given the opportunity to launch another program at a TECH CORPS partner site. The program in question is named Techie Camp. It follows the S.S. Navigator, a deep ocean exploring submarine, crewed by students grades 6-8. The students learn and use code block programming, then later JavaScript if they are advanced enough, to ensure the ship has a safe voyage across the uncharted waters. The programing is then used on real mini computers called mirco:bits. The micro:bits are the main focus of the program. They have a myriad of uses and functions such as playing sounds, reading the temperature of the room, displaying strings (messages) and integers (numbers) using LED lights, and sending signals (information) to other micro:bits. The students were able to get creative with the code blocks and express themselves in a whole manner of unique ways. With the sounds specifically, students held a classroom-wide competition on who could create the best melodies. I was sadly unable to see who won.

On a personal note, while my tenure at Techie Camp was short, it changed my views on education as a whole. Online and in the news, you hear complaints about how the students of today do not like to learn and actively resist it. I believe that the problem is more so how students are taught than anything. The students I meet with were happy to be in class, starry-eyed even, to be in the program. They had to freedom to explore as well as a gripping story about discovery that they could attach to and identify with. I think that if teaching was more personable and/or if it has greater room for self-expression, it would lead to more students who want to learn more rather than students who are reluctant to.