Kid-Netic Comp Sci and Engineering Camp: Links/Learn More!

Want to find out more about something you learned about in camp?

You've come to the right place.

Scratch:
Scratch is a computer application developed by Lifelong Kindergarten Group at the MIT Media Lab that allows the creation of interactive stories, animations, music and games. Scratch uses a graphical environment and programming language that is specifically aimed to allow young people explore and experiment with programming concepts.

Scratch is available at: http://scratch.mit.edu/

Human Computer Interaction:
HCI is the study of the way people use computers and machines. People working in HCI try to make computers easier to use for everyone. This can be everything from where the buttons are on the screen to how a mouse works in your hand.

They also work on futuristic ways to use computers. Think about your favorite science fiction movie and the fancy computers with holograms and hand waving to make the computer work. Chances are there is someone out there working on that idea right now!

Pivot Stick Figure Animator:
Pivot is a program developed to do simple stick figure animation. The camp is using it as an introduction to some of the processes required in modelling movement and animation.
Computer animation is an exciting growing field used for special effects for movies like Star Wars and Avatar to fully animated films like Wall-E and Toy Story. Students from the University of Manitoba co-op computer science program have worked directly on movie special effects and video game animation. In fact, several Manitoba grads were on the Oscar winning Avatar SFX team. Studying computer science can lead to some pretty neat things!

Pivot is available at: http://www.snapfiles.com/get/stickfigure.html

COMPLEX GAMES

Complex games is a locally owned and operated game development company. They were founded in 2002 and have created games for the Nintendo Wii, iPhone, facebook and other platforms. Levelup game training is a series of classes that Complex has developed for students age 12+ of all ability levels looking to take some first steps into game development.