May 24 2016.
views 1477A Technology 'Makerspace' For Children In Sri Lanka
This week on “Mummy Travels”, I came across an after school club like no other! In this modern day and age technology is everywhere, from the moment we wake, our day to day lives are filled with technology, from our mobiles, to our emails to our various mediums used to communicate technology has become an essential component in the success of our everyday living. With the world becoming technology driven at breakneck pace, children of today in the future will use technology at every aspect of the professional careers. Even today it affects how our children connect, play, work, enjoy and learn.
KidsIgnite, a series of workshops on robotics and programming have been founded by Mr. Hasith Yaggahavita who is a professional engineer with 15 years of industrial experience. These workshops are for children aged 4 up till 15 and are grouped into their age and level of competency. In addition to the KidsIgnite venture, Hasith currently holds the responsibility as the Chief Technology Officer of a reputed technology company.He is backed by his business partner Mr. Mano Sekaram, who is another renowned thought leader in the Sri Lankan technology industry.
The idea of KidsIgnite spawned when Hasith noticed lack of creative technology programs to enroll his own children. Being an experienced engineer, he decided to open a “makerspace” to educate their own children as well as to help other parents with the same interest. Tinkering and crafting needs a lot of hand holding for the children until they become comfortable with the use of tooling. Because of this KidsIgnite currently has an academy of 15+ engineers helping Hasith as instructors at the makerspace centers.
Hasith says that “It is imminent that the ‘creators’ of technology will lead the future to take control over ‘consumers’ of technology. Unfortunately the rapid rate of technology introduction by the modern world is increasingly pushing Sri Lankan kids to become ‘consumers’ of technology.
For example, we see our kids playing games on phones, playing with the toys we buy for them, but unfortunately there is a lack the education for them to become creative on technology. To make the things worse, our education system is still delaying the use of technology education to make our kids creative. Although children are naturally tech savvy, the traditional classroom education methods can suppress the creative thinking. Existing technology courses today (computer, robotics) follow a similar approach of classroom education, where kids usually end up learning about already created technology than being innovative”.
KidsIgnite operate on a different philosophy. They are a ‘makerspace’ for kids, which means they provide chidren with the opportunities to unleash their imaginations through technology. A makerspace is a place where students can gather to create, invent and tinker technology using tools, materials and some guidance. They operate with a culture that supports the idea that ‘anything is possible’. Their activities are aimed to build children’s natural curiosity and introduce the essential engineering principles such as mechanics, electrical, electronic, computing and robotics from very young ages.
During the foundational course we introduce concepts related to following engineering disciplines to the kids:
· Mechanics
· Electronics
· Electricals
· Programming
· Robotics
Students will learn the basics of designing, programming, and controlling a machine to perform expected outcomes. Programming can be just as much fun as robotics, specially when combined. We start by letting kids play games that introduce computational thinking. Game programming activities let them animate graphical images using simple block-based programming. Kidsignite thrive to create an enjoyable environment where children can be inspired towards creating new technology to solve problems. Thier hope is reach as many communities as possible, specially rural Sri Lanka, inspiring the young minds. We wish Hasith and his team at Kids Ignite all the best in their future endeavours!
KidsIgnite is currently operating from Boralesgamuwa. They are opening a new branch at Narahenpita on July 3rd. Currently KidsIgnite is accepting registration requests from new students who are willing to receive technology education at the new Narahenpita centre. If interested you can visit the website www.kidsignite.com.
By Mayuri Jayasinghe
Photographs courtesy KidsIgnite
0 Comments
Shiyara Shafraz says:
May 30, 2016 at 12:00 amI got a mail confirming my son's participation on try at Narahenpita 5.00 p.m. workshop. They asked me to confirm too. Is it reserved now?