Future Day!
For young people, 10 November means one thing: “Future Day! What profession would you like to learn about?”
At CSA, our employees' children can spend the day getting a sneak peek into the world of development.
This year, we had the pleasure of hosting Aljoscha, Levin and Yves.
In the morning, they got to grips with the micro:bit. The micro:bit is a microcontroller board specifically designed for introducing children and young people to programming. The three boys immersed themselves in the world of programming using Scratch, an educational visual programming language for children and young people.
The task involved integrating the functionalities of various sensors and built-in actuators, such as an LED matrix for scrolling text, buttons, a compass, speaker and radio module, into their own application in a logical way. After the boys had finished programming, they were able to broadcast messages to each other. They all had great fun.
For lunch we shared a delicious pizza at the Casablanca.
In the afternoon, the kids got the chance to put their skills to the test by soldering together a self-assembly kit. Various basic facts about electronics were explained to them while they worked. They were rapt during this task, too.
Of course, at the end of the day, we wanted to know how they got on.
Here's what the boys had to say:
“The best part was programming with micro:bits because, with a bit of help, I used mine to create a little game. I also liked sending radio transmissions (one of the micro:bit's functions) because we could use it to exchange information like which school year we're in or how old we are.
I learnt that when you're programming, you have to keep trying and not give up. When I was soldering, it was exciting to see what different materials there are, which then also have different effects.
Thanks for having me – and for the pizza. It was delicious. I gained good insights into careers in electrical engineering and computer science.”
Aljoscha
“Programming was fun. I enjoyed sending radio transmissions. I got to know a few components. Soldering was very cool!
Thanks again for the exciting Future Day at CSA.”
Levin
“I really enjoyed programming the radio module on the micro:bit. Soldering the electronic dice was also great. Ben gave us a lot of tips on programming, while Urs explained interesting facts about electronics and did a great job teaching us how to solder.
I learnt the symbols of different electronic components and that there are different types of diode. I also learnt that manufacturers provide a data sheet for every electronic component.
It was a very exciting day!”
Yves
Future Days always make an exciting change for the supervisors, too. Seeing how interested the kids are, how their eyes light up and how hard they work fills us with joy and is a canny investment in the future on the part of CSA!
Due to the great deal of interest we have seen, we want to make Future Days accessible to children whose parents do not work at CSA sometime in the next few years.