– by Kyle Spiers
This past weekend at KID, I taught a workshop on drawing pictures using Java. Every kid received a handout containing a demo of all of the things I was planning on covering, such as how different shapes were drawn and how to use different colors. While I was working with one of the kids, another was picking apart my sample code and teaching himself. A third kid, looking at what was going on on his screen asked how he did it. He then took a break from his project to show the other boy what he had figured out.
For me, this embodies the maker spirit. Information should be shared. If a maker can teach something, they are always excited to share their knowledge. Although the meaning of hacker has been corrupted, this is the true meaning of the word, tinkering with the world around you, and pushing the limits of what is possible. This was his first time coding Java, but he was able to take it in, understand it, and then teach it to another kid and help further someone else’s understanding.
This was a wonderful experience for me, and I hope to see and encourage more of this kind of peer led learning at kid museum.
