Media Alert: St. Mary's, Washington Families Tackle Mysteries of Computer Coding

Summer Learning Workshops Taking Place at Public Libraries

For Immediate Release                                                      Contact: Bill Reinhard, 410-767-0486

Baltimore, MD (July 15, 2015)

Nascent student and parent computer scientists are gathering the next three Saturdays at the Leonardtown Branch of the St. Mary’s County Library and the Alice Virginia and David W. Fletcher Branch of the Washington County Library.  Their mission: to learn and create their own inventions using the latest computer technology.

Family Coding Clubs, based on a successful program developed by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, are engaging children and their parents to learn together as designers and inventors.  The St. Mary’s and Washington County sessions are the last planned in Maryland this summer.  Other workshops have taken place in Baltimore, Caroline, and Cecil Counties. 

The sky is the limit for each student/parent team involved in this state-of-the-art activity.  For example, teams may develop games and controllers, using such programs as Scratch and MaKey Makey.

Maryland’s Family Coding Clubs are a pilot program funded by the Institute of Museum and Library Services.  MSDE’s Division of Library Development and Services is partnering with Code in the Schools and FutureMakers to launch the program.

WHO:            Students, ages 6-12, and their Parents

WHAT:           Family Coding Clubs

WHEN           12 Noon to 3 p.m.
AND
WHERE:        July 18, 25 and August 1 (Registration Closed)
                      Leonardtown Branch of St. Mary’s County Library
                      23250 Hollywood Rd., Leonardtown, MD  20650
                      301-475-2846

                      The Alice Virginia and David W. Fletcher Branch of the Washington County Library
                      100 South Potomac Street, Hagerstown, MD 21740
                      301-739.3250

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