Frisco YMCA welcomes summer STEM robotics coding program

(Frisco, TX—July 8, 2016) The Frisco Family YMCA is hosting a STEM Summer Camp for K-6th grades. Kids interested in robotics, coding and game design will be taught the Harvard/MIT Creative Coding Method to: design video games like Pong, PacMan and Shark Attack, code animations and interactive musical stories, and program robots for moves, mazes and dance sequences. Laptops, iPADs & Robots are provided for shared use.

Coding Fun 4 STEM Camp offers beginner, intermediate, advanced, and expert level classes in computer programing fundamentals for students. Students will learn skills they can apply to any aspect of life, such as critical thinking, creative expression, group problem solving, communication, and resilience. But best of all, they get to work with real robots.

Within each difficulty level based on age and experience, each child will create interactive animations and games, learn about problem solving and debugging, and program real droids, drones and bots.

Founder of Coding Fun 4 STEM and “Coding Coach” Sunny Kumar said he has found children respond positively and creatively when presented with a challenge. “It’s amazing how focused and engaged the kids can be if the activity they are doing is authentically challenging and relevant to their interests,” Kumar said.

Kumar explained Coding Fun 4 STEM was designed in alignment with the YMCA philosophy of active and group-based learning. The model used is called “Tangible Coding” and allows kids of all ages to code dozens of different types of robots, droids and drones using a mixture of onboard buttons, iPads and laptops.

Coding Fun 4 STEM uses Harvard’s Creative Coding teaching methodology emphasizing “paired programming,” which rewards kids when they work together in pairs. This encourages collaboration, group problem solving, and brainstorming. Kumar said most of the coding tools and curriculum he uses are from prestigious institutions like MIT, Tufts, Harvard and Google. The fun and tactile nature of the tools coupled with the digital games on the iPads and laptops help break down the barriers between the kids and the complicated concepts they can learn.

“This is the only effective way we found to keep kids of all ages fully engaged, as we playfully trick them into learning the arcane art of coding,” Kumar said.

The next summer session of Coding Fun 4 STEM at the Frisco YMCA is a four-day session beginning on Monday, July 11. The final four-day session for the summer begins on Monday, July 25.

Since 1991, the Frisco Family YMCA has changed the lives of youth and families in Frisco and surrounding communities, benefiting more than 11,000 people annually. Throughout our community the Frisco Family YMCA gives youth a safe, supportive environment in values-based programs. Your support will continue the Y’s tradition to improve lives and expand services to even more youth and families.

To register for a camp, visit codingfun4stem.com or contact Sunny Kumar at 646-266-6922.

For more information, contact Nikki Golding, Membership and Wellness Director, at 214-297-9622 or email ngolding@ymcadallas.org.

Frisco Family YMCA

3415 W. Main St

Frisco, TX 75034

(P) 214 297 9622

www.ymcadallas.org/locations/frisco

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