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In August 2015, Britannia Woods Community House and Jewish Family Services launched the Britannia Woods Maker Space. Perceptions were changed and new skills were learned.
To learn more, read participants' stories below.
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| Section A: Launch of Britannia Woods Maker Space
Section B: Local Tech Companies give back to community
Section C: Software, Hardware and 3D Making tools
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All Children Can Learn to Code
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Over 100 parents, children and community partners gathered on Tuesday, July 28th at Southway Hotel for the inaugural "Kids Can Code" party. Chicago-based Jeff Sweeton of Code Create introduced the audience to "low-floor and high-ceiling" maker tools including Makey Makey, Little Bits, Scratch, Lego Mindstorms, and others.
Local context on the maker movement was provided by Rola Tibshirani of the Ottawa Catholic School Board and Professor Hanan Anis, director of the University of Ottawa Maker Space.
Special thanks to Deputy Mayor and City Councillor Mark Taylor for sharing some reflections on how technology evolves - citing the 1982 Commodore 64 as an early personal computer - and by extension, skills.
With deep appreciation to the
US Embassy Ottawa for sponsoring the Kids Can Code event. Thank you U.S. Embassy Ottawa - Public Affairs Grant Program for building stronger dialogue and partnerships between friends and neighbours.
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Fuel Industries: App and game development
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To the unassuming eye, 7 Hinton Avenue looks like another old building you can find in the Kitchissippi ward of Ottawa. However, unbeknown to most, it houses Fuel Industries; a company revolutionizing how youth and technology interact. I went to Fuel with the Britannia Woods Maker Space Camp on Thursday, August 13th, 2015.
Fuel Youth started as a web development company back in 1999. With the changing technological landscape, Fuel evolved to accommodate the new ways people are using technology. Fuel Industries today produces computer games, apps and console games.
They are not the first company to offer these services nor will they be the last but what makes Fuel Industries stand out from the countless other companies providing similar services is their youth engagement aspect.
As someone who had no prior knowledge of the company's existence except what I had read on their Wikipedia page, I entered the tour with a pre-conceived notion that everyone there would be a bunch of middle-aged people trying too hard to be hip and young. However, I was pleased to see many young men and women developing their skills and a wonderful tour guide and animator Phil who didn't attempt to use whatever slang the kids are using these days.
All in all, my experience at Fuel Youth was one that I enjoyed
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would like to say thank you very much to Chris Greenfield (president of Fuel) for the tour of the green screen and ultra-quiet sound rooms and for allowing us to see what goes on behind the scenes at your company.
I am a big consumer of apps (and may have downloaded Fuel products without realizing it!) To see how apps come to life on our phones and tablets is very fascinating.
Coding has always been something I wanted to try but never got around to. However, our visit to Fuel was the catalyst to encourage me to learn to code on Code Academy.
-Fatima Suleiman, grade 10
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Shopify: E-Commerce
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"I had a lot of fun lying down on all the mats, sofas and seats at Shopify. It is the most comfy office space or space in general that I have ever been to. I was thinking how I'd love if my mom could see the office too. Very cool."
-Hechun Ouyaung
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"160,000 businesses work with Shopify to sell their products online. Shopify data centres are located in Chicago and Virginia. In two years, the company has grown from 200 employees to 700. Second offices in Toronto. Coming soon, Montreal offices. Thank you Wesley Ellis and Shopify for an interesting visit today!"
-Erica Bregman
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"Shopify is very big. They own the 11th floor all the way to the 6th floor :0 Lots of relaxation rooms Go kart racing room! FREE chip stand/
Hockey shirts with Shopify on back/The chive is the most popular item/ Apparel: Most popular category on Shopify/Rooms have names like mushroom kingdom/ In the meeting room with a TV there is a 3-D printed chandelier/ Xbox!" -Rose Ke |
prototypeD: Home Builders using 3D maker tools
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On Aug. 14th we had a field trip to the trailer office of prototype D.
When we arrived at the community house at nine am, the door was locked, and Erica was late. So not to be bored, Sephora our counsellor finally unlocked the door and let us go upstairs to play on the computers. Obviously I played Roblox.
When Erica arrived, she showed us a video about prototype D's old office which was in a dark basement. So they earned money and bought a trailer which became their office on wheels!
The van came, and brought us to where the prototype D trailer was parked in Vanier. When I looked in, I was amazed! They built an upstairs on top of the trailer. It was very impressive!
They had solar panels to charge their computers and their 3D printers! They grew plants and vegetables on the roof, even peppers! Because I like peppers and if they're going to sell them, I'm going to ask my mom!
Some people were scared of heights and thought they may fall off the roof and die! But it was basically impossible because there was string that made it hard to fall.
What I think is most impressive about this space is that prototype D staff(Janak Alford, Cleber Figueiredo and Kirill Fraidine) built the roof of the trailer and activated the solar panels. As an architectural company, they design homes and balconies for other businesses.
When they design their 3D stuff, they use a more professional software than Tinkercad. But one of their computers isn't that strong, so sometimes the program crashes.
- Cherry Ke, Grade 5
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University of Ottawa Maker Space
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| Shadi Halak (pictured above), age 12, learns how to create 3D models on Tinkercad at the University of Ottawa Maker Space on Friday, August 14th. Thank you Dr. Hanan Anis, Luc Lalande and instructor Danielle DeBoucherville Taillon for opening your doors to the public each Sunday for workshops and demonstrations. Danielle: We really appreciated the 3D printed mini ducks as take home gifts! |
Girls learning to code
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On Tuesday, August 12th, we watched videos of girls doing programming on
Made with Code because more males do programming and they also want girls to program. I code on
Code Academy which is part of programming I think.
I then chose
Goldie Blox because I was wondering what it was all about.
Sephora (who was leading the Goldie Blox) told us it was to attract girls to engineering. We built the Dog Dunk Tank. It was Goldielock's dog who was dirty and her dog didn't want to go for a wash so she put an attraction at the park and you have to throw the ball to the target so the dog will fall in and clean himself in the water. Here is the Goldie Blox dog dunk tank (pictured above).
I accidentally hit the dog instead of the target.
-Rose Ke, grade 5
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Scratch: A game or story made with software
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| Jaysun Simkhada (second from left), age 11, learns how to create a game on Scratch by importing pictures, characters and background music and creating commands (rules). Scratch is what technology educator Jeff Sweeton calls a "low floor and high ceiling tool" - accessible for beginners and challenging for more advanced coders. |
Lego Mindstorms: Bridging software, hardware
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| Yezen Al-Katta, pictured above, 14, follows the step-by-step manual from Lego Mindstorms EV3. When the robot is built, the hardware (up to 577 pieces) can be linked with a smarthphone (hardware and software) to enable movement. Learn more about Yezen's experience with Lego Mindstorms here on his interview with CBC Ottawa: Using Lego Robots to Unlock Learning.
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Makey Makey Circuit Board
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| Hibo Buraleh (far back), This dancing game is played with your feet instead of the arrow keys. The online piano (software) and hand-made piano keys (colored foam boards) are linked by a Makey Makey ciruit board. Full list of supplies include: laptop, MaKey MaKey, USB Cable, Alligator Clips, Connector Wires, aluminum foil, foam boards and creativity. No prior knowledge of music is required.
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Algorithms
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Tariq Guleed (holding sign), In this game, students run a relay race, where they dash across the room to write an algorithm based on a "Graph Paper Programming" image (pictured above). They can only write one instruction at a time and if there's an error somewhere, they have to erase everything back to that point.
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Looking to join the maker movement? Why not check out Canada's first featured
Maker Faire Event
this November in Ottawa. Date and Location: November 7th and 8th at the Abderdeen Pavillion.
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Copyright © 2015. All Rights Reserved.
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