St Augustine's College Coding Club

The content of the workshop is focused on introducing participants to Scratch, a free programming language and online community where they can create interactive stories, games, and animations1. The young people will be taught fundamental programming concepts, such as loops, conditionals, and variables, using Scratch. We will encourage creativity by exploring different project ideas, like creating a simple game or an animated story. Methods and Resources: The workshop will be facilitated by a STEM facilitator who will use both unplugged and plugged resources. Each participant will receive a dedicated Scratch account so they can continue creating after the workshop has been completed. Goals: Educational Goals: Foster creative thinking, problem-solving, and computational skills through Scratch. Social Goals: Build a supportive community where participants collaborate, share ideas, and learn together. Empowerment Goals: Empower children from low socioeconomic backgrounds by providing access to technology and programming knowledge. Target Group: We are addressing rural children in low socioeconomic areas. These children have limited exposure to technology, so the workshop can bridge that gap and empower them. What Makes Your Event Special: Inclusivity: By reaching out to rural areas, we are ensuring that children who might otherwise miss out have the opportunity to learn programming. Positive Attitude: Research suggests that playful programming approaches can shape a positive attitude towards programming, especially for children from low-income backgrounds5. Fun and Engagement: Having a fun and enjoyable workshop can encourage creativity and create a supportive learning environment.

Gorey Youth Needs Group CLG (GYNG) is a community based youth project in North Wexford, which was established in 1995. This was due to the fact that there was a missing link in the Gorey area for services regarding youth and their families. GYNG is the only full time youth service in Gorey. GYNG’s main aim is to support young people and their families, especially those who are or who may be at risk of experiencing social exclusion, through lack of support and/or opportunities. This program would be run over a number of weeks with our primary school groups (3rd to 6th Class) giving them the opportunity to learn a new skill which would not normally be available to them.

We will host 2 scratch workshops with children aged 10-12 at our school. The workshops will be facilitated by professional coding teachers and are Halloween themed to create interest and promote a fun atmosphere in the classroom. Children will learn the basics of coding and game design as they create a Halloween game using spooky sprites, with lots of scare jumps and ghostly sound effects. The last 30 minutes of the workshop will be in a hackathon format where children are encouraged to find bugs in the code and resolve the issues together.