The GitHub for Kids Urges Them to Be Inventors, Not Users #makereducation
Last week, WIRED published an interesting piece about Kano and its philosophy that encourages kids to build and make rather than consume. The article focuses specifically on Kano World, a branch of the company, where users (mostly kids) can share code they’ve created.
The concept of Kano World as it exists today emerged almost by accident. Initially, Klein says the site was intended to serve as a cloud storage space to make up for the lack of storage on the devices themselves. But as users began uploading their work to Kano World, Klein and his team quickly saw a way to turn each project into another learning experience for kids. Now, when a new project is posted on Kano World, it gets automatically broken down into a series of steps for other kids to follow.
The overarching goal at Kano is to encourage kids to be creators of technology, not just consumers. An important part of turning kids into those creators is ensuring that their creations are celebrated. Kano World makes that possible, but it’s not the only way the company is working on giving kids more exposure.
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Stop breadboarding and soldering – start making immediately! Adafruit’s Circuit Playground is jam-packed with LEDs, sensors, buttons, alligator clip pads and more. Build projects with Circuit Playground in a few minutes with the drag-and-drop MakeCode programming site, learn computer science using the CS Discoveries class on code.org, jump into CircuitPython to learn Python and hardware together, TinyGO, or even use the Arduino IDE. Circuit Playground Express is the newest and best Circuit Playground board, with support for CircuitPython, MakeCode, and Arduino. It has a powerful processor, 10 NeoPixels, mini speaker, InfraRed receive and transmit, two buttons, a switch, 14 alligator clip pads, and lots of sensors: capacitive touch, IR proximity, temperature, light, motion and sound. A whole wide world of electronics and coding is waiting for you, and it fits in the palm of your hand.
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Each Tuesday is EducationTuesday here at Adafruit! Be sure to check out our posts about educators and all things STEM. Adafruit supports our educators and loves to spread the good word about educational STEM innovations!