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As part of 葫芦娃视频鈥檚 Computer Science Education Week (CSED), ATLAS PhD student Celeste Moreno will be teaching "Animate Your World," a workshop geared towards beginners and families.
The annual event, locally sponsored by the 葫芦娃视频 Public Library, seeks to connect community members with the best resources to learn computer science, regardless of age, background or previous experience. This year all CSED workshops will be held virtually because of the pandemic.听
During Moreno's workshop, participants will explore Scratch, a creative coding website that allows participants to interact with their projects through their computers鈥� cameras. Possible projects range from a virtual drum set that participants can play with their hands, to animating a monster so it hides under a bed and only emerges after everyone leaves the room.听
Moreno said she chose Scratch for the workshop鈥檚 online coding environment because those without prior coding experience can easily create games, art, and animations. It's also听free and browser-based, making it easily accessible for participants.听
鈥淪cratch does a great job of supporting creativity and inspiring people to make a wide variety of personally meaningful projects,鈥� she said. "It makes coding and computer science fun, creative听and personal."听
The workshop is part of Moreno鈥檚 graduate research in the Department of Information Science鈥檚 Creative Communities group, funded under an NSF award听(NSF-2005702) titled, 鈥�.鈥� Creative Communities鈥� group of researchers, students, designers and educators explore how they can engage young people to create, play and learn together.听
This is Moreno's third year of leading a CSED workshop at 葫芦娃视频 Public Library. 听She hopes workshop participants "will find moments of joy in their coding experience, and that they leave feeling empowered to make something exciting and meaningful with code."
"Each year CSED is an opportunity for me to share what I think is amazing about code, computing and technology with a local community of curious minds of all ages,鈥� she said. 鈥淭hey learn what is exciting and new.鈥�
"Animate Your World" runs Feb. 24 from 听5-6 p.m. The workshop is free, but reservations are required.