On Friday, October 20, 60 Cornell Tech and 75 Roosevelt Island PS/IS 217 middle school students participated in the 4th annual Let's Code RI computer science learning project.
During the October 24 Roosevelt Island Cornell Tech Community Task Force meeting held at the PS/IS 217 auditorium, Ms Levitt described last Friday's Let's Code RI which had the PS/IS 217 middle school students editing news reports with help from their Cornell Tech student mentors.
Check out previous Cornell Tech and Roosevelt Island PS/IS 217 Let's Code RI projects at these previous posts.
Following the Let's Code RI presentation, Ms Levitt moderated a panel discussion of Cornell Tech’s Teacher in Residence Program and computer science education at PS/IS 217 with the school Principal, Teachers, PTA President and the Teacher in Residence.
Will have video of this panel presentation soon as well.
Early this morning, approximately 70 Cornell Tech graduate students visited Roosevelt Island to teach coding classes to about 60 PS/IS 217 middle school students. According to a Cornell Tech spokesperson:
Cornell Tech grad students will head to Roosevelt Island's PS/IS 217 to teach coding classes to middle schoolers for its second "Hack Roosevelt Island" day. The student volunteers will work with 6th, 7th, and 8th grade students on spooky, Halloween-themed coding projects using the coding language, Scratch.
Led by 70 accomplished engineering, health tech, connective media, and MBA students from all over the world, Hack Roosevelt Island Let's Code RI will help show that coding can be easy and fun for kids. Through the games, kids will learn useful computational thinking methods that they can use in a variety of classes and situations.
with the help of a Cornell Tech student Jason Hershman.
Olivia said that she really liked her game and its fun to play. Displaying a true entrepreneurial spirit, Olivia added that she would like to sell her games:
... to everyone across the world....
PS/IS 217 Principal Mandana Beckman learned to code Scratch too.
Our middle school students had an amazing time designing their Halloween themed games. Thank you Diane Levitt, Cornell Tech mentors and the staff from the Museum of Moving Image for planning this event for our student.
More from the Roosevelt Island PS/IS 217 Cornell Tech Halloween Hackathon from the Twitterverse.
Last Friday, April 17, Cornell Tech graduate students visited Roosevelt Island, the future home of their campus beginning in 2017, to HACK ROOSEVELT ISLAND with PS/IS 217 students
and Roosevelt Island Seniors by teaching coding and computer literacy workshops within small groups and on an individual basis.
On Friday, April 17, over 30 Cornell Tech graduate students taught coding and computer literacy workshops to local middle school students and senior citizens on Roosevelt Island to show that computing can be fun and easy for New Yorkers of all ages at “Hack Roosevelt Island.”
Tied to the observance of Earth Day, volunteers from Cornell Tech’s Master’s programs practiced coding games related to the environment and computer graphics with 5th, 6th, and 7th grade students from PS/IS 217 using the python platform Codesters.
“We’re thrilled to partner with PS/IS 217 to give students the opportunity to learn about computing by building digital projects,” said Cornell Tech Sr. Director of K-12 Education Diane Levitt. “This is just one step in our commitment to bring K-12 technology education to Roosevelt Island and across the city. We look forward to working with the community to build on this event and create more tech opportunities over the next few years.”
Following the Middle School workshop, volunteers worked with adults at the Roosevelt Island Senior Center on general computer literacy and basic online and Internet skills. Seniors practiced finding recipes, travel suggestions, health tips and other vital information, including how to use Google Maps and general Internet safety and best practices.
“It was great to see students and senior citizens interacting with technology and learning skills that they will be able to use for many years,” said Miwa Takaki, Cornell Tech MBA student and lead student organizer for Hack Roosevelt Island. “Opportunities to volunteer with the Roosevelt Island community are part of what makes being a student at Cornell Tech so special and one of the reasons that I look forward to staying in the city after graduation.”
Cornell Tech is committed to developing K-12 education and other community engagement initiatives on Roosevelt Island, the home of its future campus, set to open in 2017. Friday’s event was an additional step towards fulfilling Cornell Tech’s promise to the city, with more programming to be created over the next few years.
I spoke with Cornell Tech Director of K-12 Education Diane Levitt and MBA student Miwa Takaki following the PS/IS 217 portion of Hack Roosevelt Island. Ms Levitt explained that the PS/IS 217 students created digital games using the Python programming language.
Ms. Levitt then assisted me with the interview of Ms Takaki who is graduating from Cornell Tech and going to work for Ebay in NYC. Ms. Takaki is an example of the type of student envisioned for Cornell Tech by Mayor Bloomberg when he first proposed the idea of a NYC computer graduate engineering school in December 2010. Ms. Takaki is from the West Coast and came to NYC for the type of collaborative education provided by Cornell Tech and upon graduation is staying to contribute to the NYC Tech scene.
Hack Roosevelt Island then continued at the Roosevelt Island Seniors Center. Cornell Tech's Jane Swanson and Roosevelt Island's NYC Council Member, and Coder himself, Ben Kallos had some introductory comments.
Roosevelt Island is a mixed income, racially diverse waterfront community situated in the East River of New York City between Manhattan and Queens and is jurisdictionally part of Manhattan. The Roosevelt Island Tramway, which connects Roosevelt Island to the rest of Manhattan, has become the iconic symbol of Roosevelt Island to its residents.
The Purpose of this Blog is to provide accurate and timely information about Roosevelt Island as well as a forum for residents to express opinions and engage in a dialogue to improve our community.
