MIT AppInventor Summit Winners Pilots Google CS First Club Hong Kong

MIT AppInventor Summit Winners volunteer to teach their peers at pilot kids-run Google CS First Club Hong Kong

20 July, Hong Kong – The free computer science club, kids-run Google CS First Club Hong Kong was successfully launched by First Code Academy (FCA) in their campus this month. During the training in CS First Club fourteen underprivileged Hong Kong primary school students from the Boys’ & Girls’ Clubs Association of Hong Kong successfully created their own animations and games. Aadi Anand and Isaac Li, 11-year-old and 12-year-old students of FCA and recent MIT AppInventor Summit 2016 award winners, have already signed up to volunteer as teachers (gurus) for the CS First Club class in August. Google’s CS First started as a pilot program in the United States in 2013, and since then it has made an impact on over 435,300 students globally.

 At MIT AppInventor Summit 2016, the bi-annual gathering of the world-wide AppInventor community hosted at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Boston in June 2016, Aadi Anand and Isaac Li worked as a team and made an app called RecycleCare which won third place Experienced Developer Award at the Expedition Hack hackathon. With First Code Academy providing the location, coaching, recruiting and training for CS First Club, Aadi and Isaac are thrilled about having the platform to share what they had learned with their peers.

“I was quite nervous when I presented my coding projects for the first time a few years ago, but now I am not really nervous anymore. And in fact, when I knew I needed to do a presentation during the MIT AppInventor Summit, I felt so excited! Coding is a powerful tool as it is a way to instruct the computer to help us do a lot of different things, and I dream to start a company with the use of coding in the future. Right now I am looking forward to sharing my knowledge with students of my age at CS First Club,” said Aadi Anand.

 In Hong Kong, the common teaching practice is almost always the adults teaching the children. In contrast, CS First Club by First Code Academy is the first of its kind that has kids teaching kids coding. The club encourages children who have coding experience (coding gurus) to share what they have learned with their peers, which will mutually benefit both the gurus and the learners. From preparing the classes to organizing activities for the learners, the gurus have the opportunity to improve their leadership skills and to practice their coding knowledge. On the other hand, learners are led by their peers to explore computer science as a new tool to create, just like being shown their first Lego set. Compared to being taught by adults, the first group of learners found coding less intimidating and more fun when it was introduced by young coders.

   “I saw other people making games in Scratch before and I also wanted to try it myself but we don’t have any coding class in our school. After making some mistakes, I finally made my own game in the CS First Club! We even got to share our projects with the whole class. The teachers (gurus) and the volunteers are also very kind and helpful. I learned that we could create a lot of things with coding and I want to have this class again in the future,” said Yannis, a 10-year-old learner at the CS First Club.

   Enoch, a 9-year-old student was also amazed by his CS First Club experience. “I started to understand the programming language and learned how to solve problems during the process of making an app. I also made my own animation! Although I was a bit shy at the beginning, I soon got along well with the gurus. I would really want to join classes like this again,” he said.

   As one of the key partners, First Code Academy has been actively involved in this program, and hosted it in their own campus in Yau Ma Tei, Kowloon. “As a free program, CS First Club’s goal is aligned with First Code Academy’s mission, which is to empower our next generation to become creators with technology. We believe that our children should be empowered to use computer science as a tool to bring their ideas to life. That is why we support CS First Club program of which the goal is to increase student access and exposure to computer science,” said Michelle Sun, founder of First Code Academy and the organizer of the pilot CS First Club Hong Kong.

   The pilot kids-run CS First Club Hong Kong is also supported by the Boys’ & Girls’ Clubs Association of Hong Kong (BGCA). Fourteen kids from underprivileged families, who lack access to computer resources, were the first group of learners in CS First Club Hong Kong.

   With the success in hosting the first session of CS First Club, First Code Academy will continue to run this program in August at their new Kowloon campus. Our future creators are not only eager to learn coding, they are excited to share too.

Future CS First Club Hong Kong Information

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About Google CS First

   CS First is a free global program developed and offered by Google that aims to increase student access and exposure to computer science (CS) education through after-school, in-school, and summer programs. Through an online platform teachers or community volunteers can host clubs to teach computer science. First Code Academy partnered with Google in Hong Kong and launched the pilot kids-run CS First Club in Hong Kong. For more information on CS First please visit http://www.cs-first.com.

About First Code Academy – the organizer and partner of Google CS First

   First Code Academy (FCA) is a leading education institute that gives kids coding courses and develop curriculum for primary and secondary students to learn not just coding skills but also computational thinking.

   Since launched in 2013, the team has taught 3,000 students with projects-based, small group learning environments. In addition to regular classes, First Code Academy has worked on different community projects with partners like Google. First Code has offices in both Hong Kong and Singapore. Their work has been featured on Forbes, Wall Street Journal, CNN, the BBC News, Bloomberg, and multiple local press including South China Morning Post, Sing Tao Daily and HKET.

   As Google CS First program is aligned with First Code Academy’s mission, FCA decided to help and successfully launched the pilot kids-run CS First Club in Hong Kong this month.

About MIT AppInventor Summit

   The MIT AppInventor Summit, hosted by Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) at Boston, USA, is the bi-annual gathering of the world-wide community that uses AppInventor, which is a blocks-based computing language for mobile apps development. Organized by the MIT Center for Mobile Learning and the MIT Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL), the summit brings together a diverse range of individuals, including research scientists, educators, NGO staff members, computer scientists, representatives from industry, entrepreneurs; and others. Participants of the summit share current work, collaborate, and learn about latest developments within the MIT AppInventor community.

About the Boys’ & Girls’ Clubs Association of Hong Kong (BGCA)

  The Boys’ & Girls’ Clubs Association was founded in 1936. In the past, BGCA served and nurtured street children with no formal schooling. Through learning to read and write, participate in games and sports, acquiring material support and job skills, these children were able to develop their interests, potentials and become contributing citizens. Through years of development, Hong Kong has become much more affluent economically and socially. Conditions facing younger generations have changed, and yet BGCA’s mission to serve and promote the well-being of children and youth stays as core of their service development.

About Michelle Sun – Founder of First Code Academy

   Michelle is the CEO and founder of First Code Academy, a STEM education startup that teaches coding to kids from 6 and above in Hong Kong and Singapore with hands-on workshops, camps and regular programs. Prior to starting First Code, she graduated from the inaugural class of Hackbright Academy and held various technical roles in high growth startups in Silicon Valley including as the first growth hacker at Buffer and Bump Technologies (acquired by Google in 2013). Born and raised in Hong Kong, she graduated from University of Chicago and began her career at Goldman Sachs as an equity analyst. 

   In addition to running First Code Academy she is also passionate about women entrepreneurship and empowerment, cofounded a community for women in technology, Women Who Code (Hong Kong chapter). In her free time, she loves to train for long distance running, vinyasa yoga and travel.

   Her work has received international and regional accolades including the Forbes 30 Under 30 in Asia List in 2016, BBC 30 Under 30 Women Entrepreneurs in 2015, Women of Hope Award (Entrepreneur Category 2015) and (Tech Category 2014) and American Chambers Women of Influence Awards (Young Entrepreneur Category 2015). Representing Hong Kong female entrepreneurs, she is also recently featured on Facebook’s GlobalSheMeansBusiness campaign.