MILWAUKEE — This isn’t your mom and dad’s summer school. It is a lot more fun than it used to be.
SHARP Literacy has expanded its Summer Learning Gain Initiative (SLGI) to include two new themed coding programs: STEAM Big Leaguers and Design Through Code 2.0: Entrepreneurship.
The new coding curriculum is available to students in six learning centers and schools in Milwaukee and Waukesha counties. Participating learning centers and schools include Neighborhood House of Milwaukee, Thurston Woods Elementary School, Congress Elementary School and St. Augustine Preparatory Academy in Milwaukee, and Banting Elementary School and Summit View Elementary School in Waukesha.
With a nod to baseball season, STEAM (science, technology, engineering, art, math) Big Leaguers encourages students to explore the technology, math and art behind baseball.
Students will head outside and play baseball, and they will use apps including Blast and iScore to collect, visualize and interpret data. Students also will create personal data-driven baseball cards by drawing and painting self-portraits and visualizing data through infographics.
Guest speakers for STEAM Big Leaguers will include computer programmers and data scientists from Northwestern Mutual, who will help students recognize how data is used in a variety of fields.
Design Through Code 2.0 will focus on the technology and design sides of entrepreneurship. Students will incorporate coding, computer science and design principles to build their own businesses. They will tackle tasks such as developing business plans, conducting market research, building websites and developing products.
SHARP’s SLGI is funded by the Brewers Community Foundation, Ryan Braun and WaterStone Bank.
