To celebrate Girls in ICT Day and International Earth Day, TECgirls are excited to announce the launch of our Great Green Hack Week. The hack week is a 3-day virtual event taking place on the 1st, 2nd and 3rd of June 2021 and is open to all primary school age kids in Cornwall. The activities will all be done online via recorded video and written tutorials, so kids can take part in a COVID-safe way. This will also allow kids to work at their own pace, with resources for them and their parents to check each step of the way. The entire event is free and only requires access to a computer. There is even a chance to get a free BBC micro:bit so kids can build up their digital skills.
Working with the G7 to Tackle Global Problems
With the G7 taking place in Cornwall this June, the TECgirls Great Green Hack Week is all about Cornish kids using technology, engineering and creative digital skills to have a positive impact on our local environment, which ties into the larger G7 theme of building back better. As we are a county surrounded by the sea, we will be working with kids to think about how we can help keep our local beaches clean and how we can provide an example for other coastal communities around the world.
We’ve teamed up with the amazing local volunteer group Cornwall Plastic Pollution Coalition (CPPC) to focus specifically on the plastic waste problem created by the fishing industry - things like washed up fishing nets, also known as ghost gear or fishermen’s kisses. CPPC will be providing kids with more details on why this type of plastic is a problem in Cornwall and around the world.
We are also working with partners such as UNESCO UK, Micro:bit Educational Foundation, Software Cornwall and the Cornwall Digital Skills Partnership to help kids explore using technology and digital skills to solve this critical global problem. With this in mind, each day the kids will have a chance to explore the problem in a different way.
To enable as many kids as possible to take part, we are thrilled to share we are working with Micro:bit Educational Foundation and other partners to provide FREE micro:bits to the first 100 kids who sign up to take part (note: there is a limit of 1 per household). It is our hope that kids who have fun with our hack week will then be inspired to continue using their micro:bit and other digital skills to explore additional ways to make a difference in the world.
Planned Hack Week Activities
Day 1: How big a problem is the fishing plastic waste, and how can coding help us understand it?
Working with BBC micro:bits, kids will learn how to code a beach clean categoriser using simple block code, perfect for kids who are new to coding. We’d then like to encourage kids to get down to their local beach to do a beach clean with their family. They can use their micro:bits on the beach to help sort out their finds. They will then be able to map the results using a simple survey, creating a global kids citizen science project.
Day 2: You’ve seen the problem. Now how can you use engineering to solve it?
Along the lines of Kids Invent Stuff, we are asking kids to invent their own amazing plastic clean-up engineering solutions. We will show some examples of how other engineers are trying to help the planet for inspiration. Then we will ask them to come up with and submit their own drawings, designs, written ideas or a model built out of things found around the home like Lego or recycled bits of cardboard. Their inventions will be showcased on our blog and on our social media feeds (with parental permission).
Day 3: Spread the word – can you create a campaign to help others make positive change?
Working with CPPC, the kids will be asked to create a creative campaign to spread messages of positive change so other kids can see how they can help. They can make a poster, create an animation, make a video or write a blog post. We will provide examples on how they can use creative digital tools like stop motion animation apps, Canva (creative poster making), making videos using a phone (with parental permission) and even just Word for writing a story or poem. They can also create a non-digital campaign if they like, though they will need to think about how they might share it back with us.
How to Join
To join us please sign up via Eventbrite.
If you want your children to join but don't have access to a computer or laptop, there are ways they can still take part using a phone or ipad.
If you have any questions please contact us at info@tecgirls.co.uk