Idea: science packs for schools?

[Paul Sutton]

Hi all

I run the Torbay Tech jam ,  trying to get in to local schools seems to
be a nightmare, slow and frustrating.    We could make a pack available
to those who visit the Torbay tech jam, or in fact I can see if some of
the younger attendees can perhaps feed in to the development of this.

I strongly believe there is an opportunity here. for example we have 2
students from the same school,  very able and keen,  I have contacted
their school and offered to help them and others who are very keen, able
and self taught by setting up a lunchtime club,  no interest from the
school,  all they need is some simple help, a nudge in the right
direction,  e.g set up Arduino + 8x8x display,  change the message, add
more displays,  I try and do this at the jam but am doing other things
at the same time,  i need to spend 10 mins on tasks without distractions
of the jam.   I also buying a lot of resources myself,  so it takes
weeks for items to arrive,  sending from amazon sellers in china or
banggood,  as I simply can't afford to buy them at UK prices.

I think trying to get in to schools is going to be a hurdle,  heads and
teachers are busy enough so more offers on the desk tend to go
unanswered in some cases.

You may be better off aiming (at least at the start) this at the sort of
event I am running,  tech jams,  pi jams etc,  you are then dealing with
a different group of people not held back by the constraints and demands
of the national curriculum.

Tech jams is attended by children, young people, parents, and sometimes
teachers.  Parents are also part of the school community have access to
schools, teachers and are know to the school.   If a child can go in and
say look what I did at the weekend,  and the school can get the
materials for this easily,  then the school may just take an interest.
If they show friends then their friends want to do the same it will
start to pressure the schools,  hopefully not to the extent that they
get frustrated and end up giving up due to that additional pressure from
able kids demanding more challenging lessons.

I am happy to contribute material which can be modified and presented in
a far better way than I have.


Paul


On 02/12/16 11:52, Guido Arnold wrote:
> Hello,
> 
> On Fri, Nov 25, 2016 at 02:32:25PM +0100, Matthias Kirschner wrote:
>>
>> I was talking with some people who would like to fund some concrete Free
>> Software activities, focusing on research and education. 
> ... 
>> What do you think about making it easier for pupils to get access to
>> such tools. E.g. by having some packs in the libraries or for school
>> projects? 
> 
> I like it. Though the hardware packs alone won't do the trick. The
> crucial part will be the teachers/mentors who will introduce the
> pupils to them. If they don't care about FS, the students won't be
> even aware that they are using it.
> 
> Greetings,
> 
> Guido
> 
> 
> 
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> 

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