From August 21st till 24th, 2018 a member of our organisation, Dennis Ingelmann, participated in a workshop of the Think Big Program in Düsseldorf. How it went, read in the article.
The Think Big project is a program of the Telefónica Foundation and the German Children and Youth Foundation. The program is very diverse. On one hand it offers workshops on big data, making and coding as well as digital story. On the other hand, young people can use their own ideas to get involved in the program and receive coaching and monetary support.
In the three-day workshop, Dennis Ingelmann together with other young participants dealt with the topic of production and coding. This involved working with a 3D printer, paper-cutting and the implementation of electronics. On the first day, the attendants were split up in groups and handed to experts in one of these three fields, where each group would learn a different technique. After that, new teams were formed with the participants from the each of the original groups, with the purpose of designing, building and programming a table fan.
The second day started with an idea pitch on problems that concern the individual participants in the group. The best ideas were selected and further discussed on the basis of guided questions. After the presentation of the ideas and the identification of the problems, groups were formed to work on technically oriented solutions. In the solution-finding phase, various techniques (e.g. Brainwriting Pool) were used. The best ideas were identified in the respective group and made palpable by means such as the morphological box.
At the end of the second day and during the third day, the participants were developing a prototype using the equipment provided and finally presenting it. The creative process needed to come up with a solution for a complex problem starting from a basic set of equipment is complex and highlights the great results of this workshop. Some really remarkable prototypes came up, such as: a sustainable and self-sufficient house, a music-playing trash can, a rating system for students in the education system, a board game to learn languages and a deposit and return system for plastic waste were presented. One can say: the workshop was a great success for all actors!
CGE has been working in the field of making and coding already for couple of years and we find it especially fascinating, that such camps help young people to go deeper into the topic. Dennis and the team will use the knowledge in the upcoming projects, for example in the Spring School of DC4JOBS. Stay tuned to learn more! 😉
