The Click to Start Foundation has resumed its Programming for Teenagers project after the COVID-19 pandemic caused it to be moved online.
Abigail Wren, founder and director of the foundation and E-Learning Technical Specialist at UWI St Augustine’s Campus IT Services, said that there was a robotics academy in July, and an AI academy in August, targeting students between the ages of 13 and 19 during the school break.
The intention, she said, was to “equip youth with the skills to shrink the gap between new technology and their application,” using robotics and artificial intelligence (AI).
Attendees came from different areas of the country. The 17 students at the robotics sessions came from schools in Toco, Matura, Morvant, Brazil, and community facilities, namely, the Heroes Foundation, We Say Yes and Rainbow Rescue. The 15 attending the AI camp came from schools in Moruga, Tableland, Princes Town, Laventille and Morvant.
Course designer and facilitator, Sergio Mathurin said that the robotics camp had two purposes.
"Firstly, it was intended to give a hands-on experience of the technology students are hearing about on the internet and sometimes using without much thought about how it got into their hands. Secondly, and more importantly, the camp was intended to plant the seeds of self-belief that they too can create, not just consume technology."
He said that learners built breadboards, LEDs, sensors, motors and robots they wired and programmed themselves. By the time it ended, they could read Arduino code, debug their circuits and race robot cars they had built themselves.
At Click to Start's AI academy, students were taught Python for machine learning, game design, and designing talking robots.
"Those students were committed,” said Mathurin, “and by the camp's end, they had designed five games that were ready to ship to a real arcade. They also accurately answered 79 percent of a 40-question final quiz that covered the whole course."
Feedback included comments that the camp was "very nice" and "enjoyable and interesting." When parents were asked to communicate what they were told, one wrote that "my son wants to learn more" and that "there should be an advanced camp for students leaving school so that these can become viable options for a career."
The robotics camp ran for ten days at the end of July and the AI camp ran for ten days in the first half of August. They had separate corporate sponsorship, with student attendees and trained volunteers who acted as mentors for the daily work expected to be accomplished in each area of focus.
Scotiabank of Trinidad and Tobago fully supported the robotics camp in a first-time effort working with the foundation. Republic Bank, a long-time partner, assisted with the AI camp. For the latter, there were many other costs and the robust outreach arm of the Click to Start team also secured help from co-sponsors, Atlantic LNG, Subway Trinidad and Tobago, and SM Jaleel & Co Ltd.
Wren felt the camps were successful and was grateful to the volunteers, lab facilitators and sponsors who made these events enjoyable for attendees. She encourages more volunteers, and corporate and individual sponsors.
The Click to Start Foundation can be reached at: clicktostartfoundation@gmail.com and clicktostart.org.
