Abril Vela is the founder of the non-profit organization Chicago Girls in Computing, which aims to support high school girls in the Chicagoland area who are interested in technology. A FIRST robotics alum, Microsoft Youthspark Star, and a 2013 Awardee of the National Award for Aspirations in Computing from the National Center for Women & Information Technology, she will be attending the University of Michigan for Computer Engineering in the ... [ Read More ]
Lenovo A520 IdeaCentre Does What No Other Computer Does
Lenovo A520 IdeaCentre I recently joined the Lenovo Insider Team, a group of Lenovo fans who get the inside scoop on the company's developing tech--and there's a lot of it. Lenovo's current tagline is "For those who do," and hokey as it sounds, I'm trying to live up to that. I want to be one who does and makes. For many years I've used a Lenovo Thinkpad SL 510 as my primary computer. Thanks to a giveaway from Selfish Mom back in 2011, I ... [ Read More ]
Finch Robots Take Over the Chicago Library!
It was an exciting morning here at Code Phreaks-Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel stopped by to make an exciting announcement. Google Chicago has donated 500(!) Finch Robots to the Chicago Public Library system. Finch Robots Finch Robots were developed at Carnegie-Mellon University to provide a user-friendly introduction to programming. They are coded with a Scratch-like program called Snap. Indeed, the visual drag and drop interface makes it a snap ... [ Read More ]
Digital Kids to College Kids
I don't know if I shared this, but I'm continuing to write for the Sylvan Mom-Minded Blog. Last month I shared tips for raising digital kids, which goes beyond mere tips to provide useful resources via the links in the article. Check it out! about tip Looking to mix up a batch of slime or have science fun with dry ice? Check out my archived Sylvan posts here.I'm getting a little bit better at this Google+ Hangout On Air Thing. Give a ... [ Read More ]
Robot Turtles: A Board Game that Teaches Computer Programming
At the risk of sounding like an infomercial- act now, this offer is only good for a limited time! A few weeks ago one of my dynamic, entrepreneurial, techie blogger friends, Maya Bisineer introduced me to Dan Shapiro, mentioning that his Kickstarter project might be of interest to me (and you)--a board game called Robot Turtles that teaches programming basics to very young children ages 3-8.I loved the concept and was eager to spread the word. ... [ Read More ]
Kids with Aspergers Learn Code at Have Dreams
One of the reasons I enjoyed last summer's Mini Maker Faire in Evanston was that I met so many great people. Kathryn Born, author of today's guest post, was one of those amazing folks. She's a writer, consultant and entrepreneur based in Chicago. In the Beginning The computer program began with a mom who got her child a Mindstorms Robot, looked at the directions and had no will to figure the thing out. Her child was 8 at the time, had been ... [ Read More ]
Coding for Kids: A Book to Get Them (or You) Started
One of my personal STEM goals for the year is to learn to code, so I'm delighted to have review copies of two books that teach computer programming to kids and can help me reach my goal: Python for Kids: A Playful Introduction to Programming by Jason Briggs and Super Scratch Programming Adventure! Learn to Program by Making Cool Games (affiliate links) both titles from No Starch Press. Sadly, though, we're three months into the year and sadly, ... [ Read More ]