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In partnership with Wilmington, start-up company Kai Coders taught 36 kids in the city how to program this summer. The hope is it will inspire many kids to go onto the tech field. | PHOTO COURTESY OF DEANNA BLEDSOE[/caption]
WILMINGTON — Kai Coders, a rising start-up coding company, aims to change the equation for Delaware’s technology skill training by focusing on teaching programming for children as young as six years old.
Founded by Deanna Bledsoe in 2021, Kai Coders recently completed a two-week summer camp at Wilmington’s William “Hicks” Anderson Community Center where 36 kids between the ages of 6 and 13 were invited to learn the basics of coding. Most times, that meant taking the “code off the screen,” or innovative ways to teach programming concepts.
“Technology drives everything in our lives, it seems. We have the opportunity to inspire kids to take a real interest in this and not self-select out when they’re older because the people in these high profile jobs may not look like them,” Bledsoe told the Delaware Business Times. “Even with my daughter who’s in middle school, there’s talk among some of her classmates about not being able to program because they can’t see themselves doing it.”
Bledsoe is a software developer who spent years working in state government, including posts such as the Director of Information Technology for Delaware Treasury. Three years ago, her daughter’s Girl Scout troop was looking for a new activity to earn a merit badge so Bledsoe introduced coding to the group.
The entire project invigorated Bledsoe and inspired her to look into ways to teach children how to code with off-the-wall projects and virtual workshops in schools and after school camps. Last year, Bledsoe left the Delaware Treasury to take Kai Coders to its next step.
She designed Kai Coders to keep STEAM in mind because, as she saw it, programming is all about creative and out-of-of-the-box solutions. It’s also tapping into a growing need for programs and technology professionals. Studies by the IT + CS Business Advisory Council found that 90% of U.S. parents want their children to study computer science, though only 35% high schools teach computer science.
Programming can be a well-paying job, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics which found that the 139,400 programmers earn a median wage of $99,000.
“When you look at those numbers, a majority of the people in IT are white or Asian males,” she said. “By the time kids get to middle school, there’s self-selection happening. Because they can’t see themselves programming, so they don’t try. The tech world wants these skills, and we have a lot of financial technology companies here, so I do think there’s a demand here in Delaware.”
Like its inaugural summer camp hosted with Wilmington’s Park and Recreation Department, Kai Coders first starts small with simple concepts like algorithms where kids are tasked with getting a robot through the steps of making a jelly sandwich.
“We also had circuit boards plugged into a Chromebook, and we tested the conductivity of different things like oranges, Play-Doh and marshmallows,” Bledsoe said. “Then, using alligator clips, the kids were able to record their own voices to say messages and have them play when a button is touched.”
Children were also able to design their own animations through Scratch, a visual programming language that incorporates art, music and games that was developed by MIT Media Lab. It works by connecting blocks of code, via drag and drop method, to allow the user to make stories or animations.
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Students in a two-week summer camp in partnership with Kai Coders had connected their circuits to make a robot painting "talk," with their circuits cued up to make knock-knock jokes. | PHOTO COURTESY OF DEANNA BLEDSOE[/caption]
But the most popular lesson plan for the older students came toward the end of the summer when students were able to use what they learned to make a robot talk. Bledsoe brought in cardboard paintings of the iconic neon pink or electric blue robots, seen around Wilmington and the stealth installation by artist and Spaceboy Clothing owner David “Chez” Sanchez.
“We had students build circuits to get it to tell knock knock jokes and other inspirational sayings,” Bledsoe said.
Throughout the summer camp, Kai Coders also brought in Black programming professionals to give the young participants a chance to ask questions about what it was like in the industry. At the end of the program, the city held a showcase where students displayed their projects for family and community members.
Looking to the future, Kai Coders is looking to expand its presence through partnerships with Delaware schools and after-school programs. Right now the business is primarily focused on New Castle County, though Bledsoe is seeking to grow it to southern Delaware.
“My perspective is that we need to bake these skills in with how we teach kids these days, and there’s definitely ways to incorporate programming through English, Social Studies, music and more. We just need to make it happen,” she said.
