Firetech camps
Organization: Fire Tech Camp
Location: London, UK
Implementation summary: Currently have used Kano in several afterschool clubs, adding lot more clubs in the UK and a camp in Australia over the next 12 months.
Q& A with Jill Hodges, Founder & CEO
Q: Fire Tech Camp is such an innovative organization––everytime I stop by there’s a flurry of activity with 3D printing, code classes, and more. Can you describe Firetech and your philosophy?
A: Thanks! At Fire Tech Camp we have a dual mission - one is to give kids an opportunity to learn tech skills that they probably aren’t getting at school. We have more than 20 courses now in coding, making and digital arts so lots of entry points for young people to pursue and interest or develop a new one. The second is to develop the next generation of innovators. So often school works focuses on assessments and rote learning - we are providing young people with a supportive and social environment that encourages them to take creative and intellectual risks, and to dive deep where they are curious. We focus on creation, iteration, problem-solving, and we help kids and teens get comfortable with the “awesome glitches” that are part of the process of innovation.
Q: What brought you to Kano, and how have you been using it in your camps?
A: We love the intersection of hardware and software and so do our campers. The idea of having them build their own computer, get comfortable with the electronics inside of it, is really exciting for them and us. The Kano operating system makes it easy for the kids to build it and also gives lots of different projects that the kids can work on independently or with coaching. We’ve found it to be a real winner with the kids and their parents. And at the end of the camps, they get to take it home and keep coding!
Q: What’s been your favorite project with Kano?
A: On the coding side we love teaching Python in a minecraft environment. On the more creative side, the kids love making music with Sonic Pi!
Q: What advice would you have for camps using Kano?
A: Find a story or them that the kids can use to work on all the different resources in the Kano system. And be sure to make time for the kids to show each other and their parents their work - there’s so much creativity and it helps them inspire each other to keep coding and to get curious about different opportunities to code.
Q: How would you describe the future of learning?
A: Just as much as kids need a repertoire of learned facts, they are going to need to be comfortable with fast-moving environment focused on problem-solving. If any of us think about our careers - whether that’s in technology, the arts, research, business - you need to be able to come up with creative solutions to problems you face, design solutions, deal with failures and iterative improvements.
In education we need to nurture young people to be curious, to bring a sense of purpose and joy to problem solving, and to have the flexibility and resiliency to take risks as they look for new ways to grow their expertise and meet the challenges they will face.