Code/Art Outreach Round 2

By Tanvi, Georgia, Anuhya, and Ren

On August 6th, we presented to Code/Art. Code/Art is a non-profit organization that introduces young women from underrepresented backgrounds to STEM. They specialize in teaching programming using art, such as Processing. Specifically, we presented to their “Virtual Creative Coding Camp” which had 2 teachers and 12 students. Initially, we presented our team and explained the various roles on the team. We discussed roles in code, design, build, drive, and portfolio team. Along with the roles we discussed skills acquired through robotics such as CAD proficiency, documentation, and marketing. Skill by skill we explained how to get started.

Programming-wise, we introduced the students to block coding, as it is a great starting point. We also showed the students uses of programming and explained its use in FIRST, specifically during the autonomous period.

Engineering-wise, we explained the process of development: brainstorming, prototyping and ideation. We told the students how to get started in design, by starting out with TinkerCAD. We explained the importance of design in an engineering environment and the benefits of CADing mechanisms prior to building them.

Documentation-wise, we discussed the use of an engineering journal and the importance of keeping track of problems, solutions, ideas, and progression.

Marketing and outreach-wise, we mentioned how these skills help us find funding, apply for grants, find sponsorship, and develop professional writing skills. We also discussed how we were able to meet with professionals throughout the field through our outreach skills. We also explained how meeting with these professionals allowed us to further our knowledge and skills.

Lastly, we ended the meeting with a Q&A portion. The students asked us about our favorite parts of robotics, how to build robots at home, projects we have done, and how to start out in FIRST robotics.We were able to introduce the children to FIRST and robotics in general, which was an incredibly fulfilling experience.