WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — Students in grades 4-6 who enjoy computers can attend a series of information technology workshops sponsored by Purdue University’s College of Science.
The Are You Smarter than Your Fifth Grader? program, developed by Purdue’s computer science outreach staff, will feature software design and other computer technology related activities for parent-child pairs. The free workshops will take place from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. on the first two Saturdays in October, November and December in Purdue’s Lawson Computer Science Building.
“By offering fun graphic design programs such as the ALICE Storytelling Challenge and the Pico Cricket Design Studio, our hope is that these workshop activities will encourage young students, especially girls, to seek computer science opportunities in high school and to consider it as college discipline,” said Mindy Hart, Department of Computer Science K-12 outreach coordinator. “Adding a unique aspect to outreach, we will engage parents alongside their children so they can share the joy of technology and encourage their children to pursue this interest outside school walls.”
Lunch will be served, during which guest speakers will discuss technology related topics with parents. Participants also will receive the PicoCricket design kit, valued at $250. For more information, contact Hart at (765) 494-7802, mhart@cs.purdue.edu.
The program is funded through an Academic Alliance Seed Fund awarded by the National Center for Women and Information Technology. The NCWIT Academic Alliance is composed of more than 100 computer science and information technology organizations. The alliance promotes diversity in computing to impact innovation, competitiveness and work force sustainability. Microsoft Research created the seed fund in 2007 to spark interest in the information technology field.
