Code Champions will be hosting a three-day coding course during the first week of the Term 2 holidays, Monday 8 to Wednesday 10 July.

We’re looking forward to tackling some great projects and are offering three awesome days of computer programming:

• Dates: Monday 8 to Wednesday 10 July
• Time: 9.15am to 3.30pm
• Student ages: Years 4 to 8 (in 2019)
• Cost: $300 for the three days, which includes the use of a computer and appropriate software during tuition time.
• Venue: Churchill Park School, Kinsale Avenue, Glendowie, Auckland

Participating students will be placed in groups of a similar level of coding experience and each day they will tackle a different coding challenge. Each will suit a range of skills and interests, and will introduce them to a variety of programming approaches and experiences.

Schedule for each day*

• 9.15am: Doors open and sign in
• 9.30am: Welcome and overview of the day
• 9.40-11.15am: Coding session 1
• 11.15-11.30am: Morning tea
• 11.30am-1pm: Coding session 2
• 1-1.30pm: Lunch
• 1.30-1.40pm: Group briefing
• 1.40-3.20pm: Coding session 3
• 3.20pm: Debrief and review of the day
• 3.30pm: Goodbye and sign out

* Timings may vary during the day.

Coding sessions: During each session, there will be periods of instruction mixed with hands-on programming, collaboration with other students, testing and debugging, and demonstrations.

Places are limited: Places are limited (approx 8-10 people per project) and students will be grouped by age/ability. When it comes to offering places we will process enquiries in the order they are received. This is designed as a three-day course and first dibs will go to bookings for the entire three days. (If we are unable to fill all the places we may be able to offer single days at $125 each. Let us know if you only want a single day and we’ll add you to a waiting list.)

Bring your own food: Refreshments are not provided (other than water fountains for topping up drinks bottles). Students will need to bring their own food and drinks for morning tea and lunch.

BOOK YOUR PLACE

If you’d like to book a place for your daughter or son – or have any questions – please contact Greg Adams at info@codechampions.nz

Please note: We treat all personal information in accordance with the Privacy Act. We do not share information with any Third Parties.

Well, that’s pretty much it for Term 2. Yesterday’s classes at Saint Kentigern Boys’ and St Heliers School were the last official sessions (except for a couple of make-up classes next week).

Thanks to everyone who joined us for coding this term. It’s been a lot of fun … and some serious programming along the way.

Don’t forget, if you’d like to keep coding – or are just at a loose end – there’s our holiday programme from Monday 8 to Wednesday 10 July. Find out more here.

And, of course, we’ll be back with our after-school classes in Term 3. If you haven’t already, get in to touch to book your spot at info@codechampions.nz

Enjoy the holidays and we hope to see you soon.

This week, the Churchill Park School classes experimented with using TV remotes to control robots using their infrared (IR) signals.

The goal was to code the robot to respond when a specific button was pressed, for example left arrow means turn left, forward arrow means go forward (although any button could be coded to perform any task – the robot just needed to know how to respond to any given signal).

Firstly, it was an opportunity to learn about the light spectrum. We can’t see infrared but IR sensors can, both on the TV and the robot. We also used a smartphone camera to ‘see’ the light, as cameras can pick it up, too.

Secondly, the IR signal itself is a binary code, of 1s and 0s, usually a simple seven-digit code. One challenge was it appears that the remotes often use the same code, event from different manufacturers, as there was some interference. This meant working out how to resolve the issue, primarily using different control buttons.

Actually loading the code/signal to the robot itself seemed the simplest part of the whole process. Then, finally, we had the sumo wrestle, where students remotely controlled their robots to push others’ robots out of the ring.

Well done everyone!