What is Kids' Club?

Kids' Club is a combined technology club and research laboratory, where children of age 10-17 work together with university students and researchers of Computer Science and education. To children, Kids' Club appears as a technology club with an opportunity to study topics and learn skills of their interests in a playful, non-school like environment, where there is room for innovative ideation and alternative approaches.

Beginning

The Kids' Club project began at the Department of Computer Science in the University of Joensuu in fall 2001. The first pilot group of 5 children became part of the project from the beginning of the October, 2001. The second group of 10 children began on February 2002. Later the groups have grown to include altogether 19 children. The group sessions are held every second week in the laboratory of educational technology at the Joensuu Science Park.

Aims of Kids' Club

From the research point of view we aim at developing novel ICT-related ideas and methods for learning and teaching. To children, aims are learning of various skills and to Kids? Club, arousing children?s interest in ICT and help them to become active doers of the future society based on creativity and information technology.

Kids' Club as a Piazza

The idea is that the Kids' Club project forms a piazza for sharing ideas and skills between people from diverse backgrounds. In the piazza the co-operation is done between Kids' Club members, parents and families, companies, universities and schools.

In Kids' Club there are three types of participants: children, tutors and tutor-researchers. The children receive education in ICT and personal development, but they are also actively contributing to the research work done with them. The tutors are mainly undergraduate students, who voluntarily take part in club activities by helping the children with their tasks. The tutor-researchers work as instructors and also carry out their research tasks, related to educational technology, with the children.

Research Topics and Methodology

Research methodology in Kids' Club is based on combining the traditional technical design and implementation with active research on a cross-fertilizing way. Research methods include observation, video recordings, interviews, personal reflection, and note taking. As of technical research and development, we emphasize tool design and implementation, e.g. creating a programming environment (IPPE) and a reflecting tool (Virre).

Kids' Club in Action

The technical environment includes visualization and concretizing tools:

• visual programming environment (IPPE);
• control technologies (Empirica Control);
• programmable bricks (LEGO Mindstorms);
• virtual reflecting tool (VirRe);
• concept gaming;
• modeling systems and
• games and 3D environments.

As of pedagogical models, the laboratory makes use of problem-based learning, creative problem solving, learning by doing, learning by design and social group processes. Activities are strongly based on the ideas of constructionism by Papert.

As concrete club activities children have e.g. built and programmed LEGO robots with IPPE and NQC, modeled a department store, programmed animations with Java. In addition, Kids' Club members have participated Kids' Calling ICT Conference and won gold medal in RoboCup Junior Robot Football Competition in 2002. Intelligent door was created in fall term 2003.

Opportunities

Kids' Club is a promising platform for developing educational technologies by getting immediate constructive and fresh feedback from children. Adapting the concept to special education, talented children, children with grandparents and business training are in the trial phase at the moment.