STEAM Codes and Coding
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MAY, 202o (exact date TBA): “Codes and Coding” (postponed due to virus protocol)
(The theme includes both secret codes and computer codes.)
ACTIVITIES FOR ALL AGES
PLACE: Park Forest Baptist Church
TIME: 8:45 – 2:30
(Families with young children can leave after lunch.)
COST: $12 per student, or $30 per family
Families doing just a half-day: $8/child, $20 family
(Babies and toddlers are free.)
LUNCH THEME: “INDOOR PICNIC.”
–Bring a bag lunch and a picnic blanket to sit on.
–We will provide: water, lemonade, chips, pretzels.
Please read the seminar descriptions and look at schedule chart before clicking on the register link, as you will be asked to choose seminar topics for your students.
Click here to download schedule
Click here to register
NOTES:
1) You will need to read over the following pages and select the
seminars that will be best for your student(s).
2) Students ages 12 and under must have a designated chaperone on
the premises. This is designed to be an event for you to attend
with your children (as you would a museum). If you are in a
situation that makes you unable to attend, please make arrangements
for another parent to chaperone you kids for the day.
3) Older students attending on their own may NOT leave the PFB
property (no walking to Sheetz for lunch).
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LIST OF SEMINARS:
All seminars are 55 minutes long, except for some 30-minute morning activities for preschool and K-4 ages.
Parents need to read the following list carefully and choose the topics that are a good fit for their student(s). Age level guidelines are given. If your student is outside the listed age guidelines he/she may still participate if you feel that seminar is appropriate for them.
For exact times that each seminar is available, refer to the chart that gives this information.
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Robot Races game (preK to 2) [30 min.]
This is a whole-body action game that is played on a large mat on the floor. Players follow arrow clues in a way that simulates computer coding. Reading not required.
CoderBunnyz game (grades K to 3) [30 min.]
This game was invented by an 8-year old who was learning computer coding. With the help of her parents and some graphic artists, her game turned into a professional looking product for sale on Amazon. Players have rabbit tokens that move across the squares on the board using directional commands that simulate the commands in computer programs. Reading not required.
Exploration Room (preK to 4) (30 or 60 min.]
Various hands-on activities including a coding mouse toy, pattern blocks, Egyptian heiroglyph rubber stamps, the number balancing seal, some 2-player math enrichment games, letter puzzles for readers, and more. (Activities might not be directly related to coding.)
Indoor Playground “Plus” (pre-K-1) [30 min.]
The main gym will be set up as an indoor playground, plus there will be some extra exhibits set up, such as number sharks fishing game, Ex-pour-i-ment Factory, etc.
Music for preK (30 min.)
TBA music enrichment activity or presentation.
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All of these seminars run for 55 minutes. Please use your discretion to choose topics that sound right for your children.
Sound codes (grades K to 12)
(This topic will be tweaked for the different age groups, of course.) We will meet people (by way of video) in both Mexico and Turkey who use a whistle language. We will then develop our own whistle code and practice sending and receiving messages. (Each participant will get to take home their whistle.) Time permitting, we will also learn about one or both of these topics: Morse code and tap codes. (Tap codes were used by American prisoners of war in both World War II and the Vietnam War. We will use their “Polybius square” to send and receive some messages.)
Cipher Gadgets (grades K to 8)
This is a do-it-yourself room filled with hands-on activity stations for a variety of ages. Make cipher gadgets that disguise secret messages using wheels, cylinders, or other tricks. Experiment with the chemistry of several different types of invisible ink. Each participant gets to take home an invisible ink pen with UV light. Reading only marginally required (writing letters, simple words)
“Potato Pirates” (grades 3 to 8)
Based on a card game that has become a standard part of national programs that teach coding language to young children. It uses cards that have written commands, such as “if, then,” “while” and “if, else.” We’ve scaled up the game to fill the room, with little plastic potatoes riding around in cardboard sailing ships! Players will be assigned to a team, and each will have a small fleet of boats. Last boat still sailing wins the game. (But everyone wins because we learned so much about coding!)
“Robot Wars” (grades 5 to 12)
The Daleks have gone crazy and are battling each other in order to be the first one to reach the escape transport pad! (Daleks are famous evil aliens from the British TV series Dr. Who.) We’ve taken a coding board game and scaled it up to fill the room. Participants draw cards that are written in Java code, and must follow those instructions to move their Dalek. Coded instructions are designed to be understandable to those who don’t know computer coding. (Example: for(current_position,right NOT blocked) {turn (right); move(1step, forward); / if (left IS NOT blocked) {turn (left);move (1step, forward); } else stop (); )
Mayan script art project (grades 4 to 12)
You’ve heard of the Rosetta Stone and how it was used to figure out the meaning of Egyptian hieroglyphs, but did you know that the Mayan culture also used glyph writing and it was equally difficult to figure out? When Mayan glyphs were finally deciphered, it turned out that they had an added feature the Egyptians never used– the Mayans used letters to represent not just words or letter, but syllables (ba, be, bi, bo, bu, ma, me, mi, etc.) Their glyphs were all based on the shape of a square and a finished piece of writing looked more like a piece of artwork than a paragraph. We will look at their amazing carved glyphs, then use a “syllabary” to make to write our names, making them into a beautiful piece of artwork. (Pencils, ink, markers, watercolors)
“Decrypto” group game (grades 5 to 12)
This is a challenging group game that requires a lot of interaction between the players. The group is divided into two teams and each team encodes and decodes secret messages they are given. As this happens, the opposing team is trying to crack the code using both logic and eavesdropping. Be careful what you say, a spy might be listening! (A grade 4 student might be able to participate if they are a strong reader and have mature social skills.)
Famous Codes and Ciphers in history (grades 4 to 12)
(You can choose a session for grades 4-8 or for grades 6-12.) We’ll travel through history quickly, as we hit some of the highlights of famous codes and ciphers from ancient to modern times. We’ll learn about the Greek’s method of writing Scytale messages, the Roman Caesar Cipher, the Alberti cipher disc, the Vigenere Cipher, the cipher alphabet that ended the life of Mary Queen of Scots, George Washington’s code, Thomas Jefferson’s cipher wheel, the dictionary ciphers and the cipher wheels of the Civil War, and semaphore flag codes used by navies. Participants will get to take home a few cipher devices.
Enigma machine (grades 6 to 12)
This is a history-based seminar that will summarize the amazing real-life story of Germany’s famous coding machine during World War II. This machine made an almost uncrackable code, and the only way the British were able to defeat it is by relying on Alan Turing to invent the world’s first computer. The follow up activity will be to construct your own Enigma machine using a Pringles can. This paper can model works exactly the same way as the original, except without electrical wires. The wires are lines printed onto paper rings that twist and turn around the can. (This ingenious simulation device was invented by a British company, Franklin Heath, Ltd.)
