I met the CoderDojo team at the Earth Day celebration in Apex, NC. According to their website:

“CoderDojoApex NC is a volunteer-led digital making and coding club with a mission to inspire children to learn, make and express with technology. We meet every Saturday from 10:30a-12:30pm ET(regular session). We welcome children from ages 7-17 years old and all levels of coding experience from beginner to advanced. Attending a session is free of charge, however signup is necessary. Register on the CoderDojo website to reserve your tickets and become a member of this community.”

Initially my wife and I got excited to learn about the CoderDojoApex group for our son to improve his computer programming skills as well as my sharing the opportunity with kids I meet as a substitute teacher at the public schools. When I heard they are currently creating projects on environmental sustainability I got even more thrilled and they asked me to judge the presentations held last Saturday! Our son is still on a baseball team so we hope he will get involved later this summer.

Group presentations of sustainability projects were judged based on factors created by the organizers for Coolness, Complexity, Presentation, Design and Usability.

Six groups of three or four children presented their projects that they had worked on for over a month. Some groups presented posters, PowerPoint slides, and many wrote Scratch programs. Topics included finding ways to improve growing food at home, sharing information to reduce fossil fuel consumption, protecting wildlife, conserving water, reducing plastic pollution, and preventing forest fires. The winning team programmed soil moisture sensors to water plants using Arduino and they came up with a great title and presentation: “SPLP Sustainable Planting for Lazy People!”

I also liked many of the Scratch games that the students created. The group from Kenya created a game to promote awareness for saving White Rhinos from illegal ivory poaching.

When I see the enthusiasm, concern, creativity, and willingness to sincerely address world problems and create positive outcomes gives me great hope for the future of humanity. For more on the #CoolestProjects Jam event and future events check them out on Facebook!