Our STEMtastic Summer in Hanna Preschool

By: Inho Kee

This summer, AAYA members Ian, Inho, Alyssa, Ryan, and Jingyu had the wonderful chance of visiting Hanna Preschool to hold STEM Camps. The idea of having a STEM camp came from AAYA’s weekly discussion. At first, considering that AAYA would not be able to provide electric devices to every child, its plan was to have a lecture about the history of computers, coding, and the changes programmers brought to the world. However, Hanna Preschool actually had laptops available for everyone.

“Since coding and programming are essential skills for the 21st century, our preschool purchased laptops last year. We were lucky to have AAYA members to finally utilize these devices to teach children important STEM skills.” - Hanna Preschool

Over the course of three days, AAYA members taught preschoolers the art of coding, progressing from basic input-output codes to creating games on Scratch. Ryan, one of our volunteers, said that not only was the STEM camp helpful for preschoolers, but it also helped Ryan to improve his programming skills as he was learning how to simplify complex codes and explain the essential concepts of programming.

Aiden showing off his amazing code!

Ryan teaching Scratch

“It wasn’t easy for me to apply the things I learned in my programming class in real life. So, I was lucky to have this opportunity to take full advantage of my coding skills.” - Ryan

On top of holding STEM Camps, our members Ian and Ryan met with Hanna Preschool teachers to write a programming curriculum and teaching plans for the preschoolers for the future.

AAYA is excited to hold more STEM Camps before this summer ends. Please let us know if there are any opportunities!

Update 8/26/2022: AAYA expanded its STEM Camps at Hanna Preschool, hosting sessions for two days per week over a span of three weeks. Thank you to our volunteers Ian, Inho, Alyssa, Ryan, and Jingyu and Hanna Preschool.