2016 MLA Annual Conference

The language of the future is coding, and the kids who can code will have a leg up in academics, job potential, and overall quality of life.  In collaboration with the Minnesota Department of Education and an LSTA Grant, Washington County Library recently finished a series of coding classes for middle school students featuring the Minecraft platform.  Using Raspberry Pi microcomputers, students were challenged to take their familiar, beloved online game and reshape it from the inside out using the Python coding language. Along with an understanding of coding basics, participants learned valuable skills such as collaboration, flexibility, and persistence.  Additionally, the grant supported a community event to showcase student work, and training for library staff in order to continue classes and extend them to other Washington County Libraries. In this session you will learn how WCL defined the parameters of the grant, our timelines for success, and resources created so that other libraries can replicate our program. In the spirit of open-source Raspberry Pi computing, all our tools are available online and free to use. We are excited to contribute to this spirit of learning!