Sava Dobroplodni Regional Library took part in ALL DIGITAL WEEK 2018 with training "First Steps in Programming for Children with the Finch robot"

On March 19, 2018 , within the framework of the initiatives of the pan-European campaign ALL DIGITAL WEEK, "Sava Dobroplodni" Regional Library organized trainings "First Steps in Programming for Children with the Finch Robot".

The ALL DIGITAL WEEK campaign has been running since 2010. This is an annual campaign to increase digital literacy and the use of digital technologies and is carried out by competence centers, libraries, schools and non-governmental organizations across Europe. Every year, within the Digital Week, more than 100,000 European citizens participate in events to learn about digital transformation and its consequences. This year the Digital Week was held from 19 to 25 March and aimed to familiarize citizens with tools and approaches to enhance their digital skills and help them to be more adaptable to their work skills.

Sava Dobroplodni Regional Library - Sliven and regional libraries in 13 Bulgarian cities /Varna, Burgas, Gabrovo, Rousse, Sofia, Stara Zagora, Silistra, Dobrich, Pazardzhik, Smolyan, Vratsa, Targovishte and Razgrad/ took part in the initiatives organized within the of the Digital Week 2018 with a series of free seminars and other events and activities organized with the assistance of the Global Libraries - Bulgaria Foundation - the national coordinator of the event in Bulgaria.

Students from the third grade of "Peyo Yavorov" secondary School took part in the training "First Steps in Programming for Children with the Finch Robot" in the Sava Dobroplodni Regional Library. With a brief presentation, the programming history and programming languages ​​and programming options with the Finch robot were presented to them. Students got acquainted with the Snap! to control the robot. It is suitable for children 7 to 12 years of age. Snap! allows easy to learn the principles of visual programming by working with images, sounds and drawings, gives good opportunities to model different objects from the environment, thus enriching children's culture and developing creative thinking and communication skills.

In practical training, through funny tasks with characters from popular cartoons, children have learned some of the basic principles of working with the programming language and have successfully completed several tasks.

At the end of the training, the participants received a certificate for the successful first level of programming generated by the program.

Computer science is already touching almost every scientific discipline and is an important part of most new technologies. Training with the Finch robot can motivate students to choose to study computer science, to realize that this is an area that will enable them to pursue future professional development. That is why "Sava Dobroplodni" regional library also accepts as a mission its work in this direction.