When Foróige Galway Youth Services and Corrib Kids Coding partnered at the start of the year to plan summer programmes, neither could have imagined how such projects would turn out.
Plans were moving along to hold STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts, and math ) workshops for children in various locations throughout Galway for the Summer. By mid-March, and with lockdown coming, those plans needed to change.
To deal with and meet the Covid restrictions, Foróige moved its services online, providing group work and support via Zoom, loaning technology to families to stay connected, and providing hundreds of activity packs, while all four week long summer camps with Corrib Kids Coding had to move online.
.
Corrib Kids Coding, based in Galway, are husband and wife team Laura and Kristian Lahdensuo. Over the summer, Kristian met with young people from Foroige through Zoom, to create video games using Scratch and Microsoft MakeCode, as well as code a step-counter and exercise dice using the BBC Micro Bit.
'Seeing the faces of the young people listen so intently to the speakers, and hearing their feedback has inspired us to work on similar projects and partnerships'
Laura led an older group of teenage girls in creating an app called Learn Locker which aims to help students, teachers. and parents exchange up to date information and coordinate activities including timetables, assignments, technology assistance, and study space during emergency school closures.
To enhance the virtual sessions, the camps also featured a number of speakers, including game designer, Paul Conway; Anna Carmody who developed an augmented reality app and book about farm safety for younger children; and the lead developer of the Irish COVID tracking app.
.
"The camps were a great example of how youth groups switched seamlessly to remote learning due to Covid," said Laura, "and seeing the faces of the young people listen so intently to the speakers, and hearing their feedback has inspired us to work on similar projects and partnerships around career advice for secondary school students in Galway later this year."
The collaboration between Foróige and Corrib Kids Coding enabled the young people to practice the technical skills they have exposure to through the Galway STEAM project.
The Galway STEAM project is a joint project with Tusla and Foróige which aims to support community based youth and family support services in Galway city and county to incorporate STEAM activities into their work practices. The activities also gave staff additional tools to aid relationship building, youth engagement, and youth development.
Corrib Kids Coding have moved their after school lessons for primary school children online for the new school term, and can be contacted on Facebook @corribkidscoding.
