On the 12th of February, the first workshop of the year on robotics, electronics, and programming was held in the “Kliment Ohridski” Elementary School, Draganovo village. Organized and conducted by the Tinusaur Foundation, and thanks to the campaign on the BCause Platformata.bg.
At the end of 2023, we launched a donation campaign on Platformata.bg to raise funds for two workshops. We were pleasantly surprised to have received the money in just a few days, thanks to seven donors. We are grateful to these people for believing in our cause and making it possible to hold the workshop at Draganovo village.
About 55 children from the 1st to the 7th grade studied in the school, and the director, Mrs. Novakova, enthusiastically accepted the idea of holding such a workshop in her school. Only eight children could participate in the workshop. Still, since many others wanted to, we decided to gather all the children from the 5th, 6th, and 7th grades in one of the specialized classrooms in the school. Other people also wanted to help or oversee the entire process.
Each of the eight children received an individual Tinusaur Kids.Micro set worth about BGN 50, together with the necessary tools and materials. The creator of Tinusaur – Mr. Neven Boyanov, personally showed the children what they had to do. They quickly learned what soldering iron and soldering wire were and how they were used, what resistors and capacitors were for, and how each one had to be soldered. The children’s interest was great. The boys showed enviable skill with the soldering iron, and the girls were extremely diligent and, in the end, all the boards worked.
During the workshop, the mathematics and information technology teacher – Mrs. Antonina Penkova, was also present and watched with interest how the children created something with their hands and how satisfied they were with themselves.
The duration of the workshop was about four astronomical hours, which passed imperceptibly. Finally, the children had the opportunity to write their first program using block programming with our Blocktinu platform.
In this way, the Tinusaur team was able to give the children from the “Kliment Ohridski” Elementary School, Draganovo village, an incredible experience in the world of electronics, robotics, and programming and to spark their interest in the fields of science. A few children even came to us after the workshop and told us how interesting they were and how they wanted to do something similar in the future.
The boards that the children assembled remain for them, and they can program them to work on their own projects at home. One of the children even contacted us the next day to give him guidance and send him developed materials related to programming.
We are happy that we have the opportunity to do this, and we will continue to tour the small villages and towns in Bulgaria and make children happy.