These courses and the curriculum will supplement computer education in schools by providing a conceptual understanding of fundamental concepts like Algorithms, Computational Thinking and Computer Programming using Scratch, MIT App Inventor and Raspberry PI developed by MIT Media Labs and Raspberry Foundation. MyPal’s courses permit kids (8 years and above) and teenagers to create their own interactive games instead of merely playing games on the computer or develop their own Android Apps instead of downloading Apps. The summer program will be at MyPal’s Blended Learning Centres (combination of online + classroom teaching) at Begumpet and Gachibowli in the heart of HiTech City in Hyderabad.
MyPal’s computer science education curriculum for kids and teens is a roaring success in USA and we intend to offer it here in India. This curriculum, being taught for the first time in India, will provide our kids the advantage of starting early to get a head start in Engineering Colleges be it IITs, NITs or MIT / Stanford, says Satya Kumar.
MyPal’s Computer Science for Kids and Teens will consist of Programming using Scratch and MIT App Inventor which were developed by MIT to teach kids to create their own games, animation and mobile apps using simple block commands instead of text programming. At the same time, students learn fundamental concepts like data, variables, conditional statements and object oriented programming. Scratch Programming and Android App Development courses duration is 2 weeks from 19th May to 7th June and enrolment is allowed up to 26th May.
MyPal is also offering hands on projects that combine software (Scratch and Python) and hardware (Raspberry PI). Raspberry PI is a credit card sized computer (with the power of Intel 3 processor) which is used to teach programming to middle school and high school kids in UK, USA and other countries. Raspberry PI has sold 2.5million pieces world over since its launch two years ago. Using Scratch and Python programming with Raspberry PI and other Do it Yourself (DIY) kits, children will be able build simple digital projects like a calculator, digital watch, message board or program a robot or race car. Projects with Raspberry PI course is for two weeks from 19th May to 7th June and enrolment is allowed up to 26th May.
