Primary school teachers learn programming at Curtin Malaysia

Miri – 30 May 2018 – 45 teachers from 21 primary schools around Miri availed themselves to Arduino, an open-source electronics hardware, and Scratch, a programming software, during the first Junior Innovate Bootcamp held at Curtin University Malaysia (Curtin Malaysia) recently.

The train-the-trainer bootcamp was jointly organised by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) Curtin Malaysia Student Branch and All Aboard Young Leader Centre (AAYLC) – Chumbaka Miri.

According to advisor to the IEEE Curtin Malaysia Student Branch, Dr. Garenth Lim King Hann, the purpose of the two-day bootcamp was to train school teachers in the use of different technological tools and effectively impart their knowledge to their students.

It was also to familiarise them with the rules for Junior Innovate, a science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) competition open to all primary schools in Malaysia.

Part of the bootcamp involved the teachers transforming old toys into more creative and innovative toys by ‘hacking’ their mechanisms using Arduino and Scratch tools. They were then required to present their ‘hack-a-toys’ through story telling where they had to articulate clearly what they had learned and how every member of their teams played a part in their projects.

Dr. Lim said that school children should be taught programming at an early stage as programming is now a required basic skill required in the 21st Century. By doing so, the children will be empowered to actively engage in the field of electronics and computer science at a young age and gain a competitive edge in a digital future.

“Such technological knowledge and skills, as well as life skills such as creativity, critical thinking and collaboration, are aligned to current trends in Industry 4.0 such as the Internet of Things, artificial intelligence, 3D printing, automation and cyber security, so the children develop a keen awareness of the technological requirements of tomorrow.”

He added that this was the reasoning behind Junior Innovate, which was initiated to inspire a digital creator mindset among primary school students and prepare them for jobs of the future.

In preparation for the competition, students are trained to design embedded systems using open-source software and electronics hardware such as Arduino and Scratch, and demonstrate their projects through story-telling.

Meanwhile, President of the IEEE Curtin Malaysia Student Chapter, Carl Mat Isaac Bayang, said that the student chapter’s involvement in Junior Innovate encourages volunteerism and the enhancement of technical knowledge amongst its members as they act as tech mentors to participating teams.

“We are playing our part in empowering the community to be innovative digital makers, and not mere consumers, true to IEEE’s vision of Advancing Technology for Humanity,” he said.

Also present at the bootcamp were AAYLC-Chumbaka Miri representatives Haslina Malik and Zairustina Putit.

AAYLC is a homegrown Sarawakian social enterprise that partners with Chumbaka, a Malaysian organisation that specialises in developing children’s life skills through technology, to reach out to youth and children in Miri and equip them with technical and programming knowledge to grow life skills.

According to Haslina, AAYLC-Chumbaka Miri seeks to inspire and help young people discover themselves and grow into confident individuals, innovative thinkers and problem solvers with a heart for the community.

Group photo of participants, facilitators and student volunteers during the bootcamp.

Participants were required to present their projects through story-telling.

IEEE Student Chapter volunteers giving participants technical advice.