NBC 6 News called it: “the nerdiest, techiest field trip ever.”
A fifth grader described it as “The best trip I’ve ever had!”
For the last three weeks, VocabularySpellingCity and Science4Us had the privilege of hosting more than 300 elementary school students from six Broward County Public Schools for an engaging event in support of the Hour of Code. The worldwide Hour of Code is designed to expose everyone, but school-aged students in particular, to computer science. VocabularlySpellingCity and Science4Us took the initiative one-step further by creating the “nerdiest, techiest field trip ever,” according to NBC News 6 special assignment reporter Ari Odzer. Students participated in “stations” learning everything from customer service to web design to QA/testing, etc., from the company’s programmers, developers and database administrators. What’s more, they got a taste, and hopefully some inspiration, for what a career in high-tech looks like.
STATION: Quality Assurance/Testing Center
There are so many parts to a webpage and it’s important that it gets tested before the world gets a chance to look at it. John and Nancy are part of the QA team that review web pages for errors.
Students worked with Nancy and John to find “bugs” on a mock VocabularySpellingCity website.
STATION: 2D Modeling & Animation
Rik and Renee work together to create the visuals and the interactivity that you see in games.
Rik demonstrated how a “ruckus” cloud is created.
STATION: 3D Modeling
Bertrand is a multimedia artist and he creates 3D images which are used in our programs.
Bertrand showed how to create a 3D ice cream cone.
STATION: The Web User Data Lifecycle
As a software architect, Jose can create an app that collects user data and get it to travel from client devices into a database which can then be displayed and consumed as an academic progress measurement tool.
Students competed against one another in a multiplication game designed by Jose on the iPad.
STATION: Customer Support
Dany and his Client Services Team receive calls and help teachers with their VocabularySpellingCity accounts.
A student received a support call from a “celebrity” client needing help with their password.
STATION: Coding for Web Design
Front-end web developer, Gennaro, fixes errors that the QA and testing team finds and Amy, a graphic web designer, specializes in creating graphics for the web and other marketing materials.
Amy took questions from students about how to change the code to make the characters look different.
Gennaro explained how developers can ensure that their websites work on multiple devices.
Take a look at a video clip of what another student stated as, “The best day of his life!” Watch the story, Education on 6, from NBC 6 Miami’s Ari Odzer (@ariodzernbc6). For more pics of the events follow us on Twitter, @spellingcity and @science4ussays.
(L-R) John Edelson, Founder & President, VocabularySpellingCity & Science4Us; Lisa Milenkovic, STEM Science Supervisor, Broward County Public Schools; Angela Brown, Principal, Dillard Elementary; Perri Robinson, Sales & Marketing, Science4Us; Guy Barmoha, Math, Science & Gifted Director, Broward County Public Schools
“Our children not only need to know how to play games using technology, they need to learn how to operate technology. They need to know they can use this technology to be successful later on in life in their careers.”
–Angela Brown, Principal, Dillard Elementary
The Broward Schools that participated in Dec 2015 were:
Schools Participating in December 2015:
Dillard Elementary School (Principal, Angela Brown, Science, TaShara Jean-Baptiste)
Plantation Elementary School (Principal, Judith E. Pitter, Science, Darlene DeRusha, Tiffany Morris)
Broward Estates Elementary School (Principal, Cyntheria Hunt, Science, Rasheeda West, Carolyn Claxton)
Pines Lakes Elementary School (Principal, Susan F. Sasse, Science, Sophia Whittaker)
Rock Island Elementary School (Principal, Stephen DeCotis, Science, Tonya Wallace)
RPE STEM Museum Magnet School (Principal, Ducarmel S. Augustin, Science, Christina Hung, Jessica Temple)
The career training field trip concept was designed as a full educational experience. We field tested it in May 2015 which is described here:
http://www.spellingcity.com/blog/dillard-supercoders-explore-tech-careers/
If your school is interested in participating in the next round of visits, perhaps at the end of the school year in spring 2016, contact VocabularySpellingCity or Science4Us/.
Here’s another journalists clip of VocabularySpellingCity:
http://www.bizjournals.com/southflorida/news/2013/09/06/fort-lauderdale-company-puts-spelling.html
It’s by the South Florida Business Journal
What an amazing opportunity, both for the students AND the instructors for the day! 😀 Love seeing their faces, and how much they are really focusing on what’s going on. Good times. 🙂
I was witness to the Hour of Code event at VocabularySpellingCity and Science4Us with the Dillard Elementary school students and it was incredibly heart warming. The students were so impressive and I’m confident they learned a ton. Can’t wait until next year.
I’m so jealous of this group! 🙂 What an incredible opportunity for them. Not only to get to see behind-the-scenes of how a technology product comes to life, but to get an up close look at the modern job force and what working in a company would be like. It must have been incredibly motivating for these kids. Wouldn’t it be so cool if one of them ended up working with Vocabulary Spelling City one day?!
What an amazing opportunity, both for the students AND the instructors for the day! 😀 Love seeing their faces, and how much they are really focusing on what’s going on. Good times. 🙂