CERN Accelerating Science

On Sunday 26 February, CERN hosted the newest edition of Devoxx4kids, a series of computing, robotics and electronics workshops for kids. The occasion was organised in the context of the VoxxedDays CERN developers convention, held at CERN the earlier day.

Various workshops - “Minis” for the 4-6 12 months-olds, “Kids” for the 7-10 yr-olds and “Teens” for the 11-15 12 months-olds - gave the children an perception into programming and electronics by way of robots and games. About 70 youngsters came along and have been in a position to exhibit to their parents how they had managed to programme a NAO robot to have a converstation with them or a Thymio robot to comply with a path on a map, or how that they had altered the famous Minecraft game or developed an interactive quiz on a computer utilizing Scratch.

Devoxx4Kids was established in Antwerp, Belgium, on the fringes of the effectively-established Devoxx conference for Java programmers. Since its establishment, Devoxx4kids has introduced smiles to hundreds of children’s faces in 22 countries. Run by a workforce of volunteers headed by Xavier Bourguignon, the Swiss version of the conference is now into its eighth yr. “Bringing Devoxx4kids to CERN and having it in the Globe is a dream come true!” says Xavier. Organising workshops in one of many high temples of science, where the online was born, sends out a robust sign to the youngsters (and their parents). I hope Devoxx4kids will typically come back to CERN in the future.”

Joao Silva, organiser of Voxxed Days CERN and CERN coordinator of Devoxx4kids provides: “The aim of the workshops is to stimulate curiosity and the imagination, and to show what could be carried out with science and know-how. Minecraft Servers lead the kids to find that, by way of games, they can be the creators of tomorrow. Schooling is certainly one of CERN’s core missions, so internet hosting an occasion like Devoxx4kids here is completely in keeping with our work.