Area students explore science and technology at NICC Waukon's STEAM Coding Camp ...


Area students explore science and technology at NICC Waukon's STEAM Coding Camp ...

Twenty-one students in fourth through sixth grades from the towns of Waukon, Decorah, Harpers Ferry, Postville and Lansing participated in STEAM Coding Camp - Engineering a Better World from June 6-10 at Northeast Iowa Community College’s (NICC) Waukon Center. At the STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and Math) Camp students learned computer coding by applying NASA science concepts and robotics. The camp included classroom instruction, hands-on activities and computer programming to create a game, simulation or story inspired by the kinds of earth science that NASA and other researchers do every day.

“We had a great week at camp! The camp teachers loved that they got to learn something new with the students,” said Erica Nosbisch, NICC Waukon Center director. “It was incredible watching the students' coding and programming skills improve throughout the week. They took their projects to a whole new level and impressed the camp teachers and judges.” Camp activities included coding using Kodu, creating pancake designs with the Pancake Bot, producing a video using Screencast-O-Matic, and listening to the advice of Waukon High School Principal Dr. Mike Hardy as the camp’s guest speaker who spoke to the campers about coding career opportunities.

Kodu lets kids create games on the PC and Xbox via a simple visual programming language and can be used to teach creativity, problem solving and storytelling, as well as programming. Anyone can use Kodu to make a game, from young children to adults with no design or programming skills. The Pancake Bot is the world’s first food printer capable of printing pancakes by automatically dispensing batter directly onto a griddle. Students created a pancake design on the computer and uploaded it into the Pancake Bot.

Students completed projects and had the option to enter them into the Imagine Cup Earth contest. Students also created display boards and presented their projects to judges. The STEAM Coding Camp - Engineering a Better World concluded with a presentation for parents and community members. Camp sponsors include Allamakee Community Connections, Allamakee County Community Foundation, Allamakee County Economic Development & Tourism, Iowa State University & Outreach, Keystone AEA and Northeast Iowa Community College. Submitted photo.