The Cosmic Code: First Contact is a project that aims to introduce coding within an astronomy setting to the rural communities of Zululand (and beyond!). The CosCode programme includes introductory coding workshops using Scratch and Python, all run on Raspberry Pi’s. Various accessories and sensors were combined with the Raspberry Pi’s, allowing for a robotics’ aspect in the workshop.
CosCode Workshops:
In 2017, two workshops were developed for CosCode. A Python coding workshop which included robotics programming and a more introductory coding workshop using Scratch.
The Raspberry Pi Kits included sensors, motors, electronic components and breadboards. The Raspberry boards used were the Raspberry Pi Model 3 B boards.
The CosCode program was hosted throughout the year, with the workshops becoming part of the science centres offering to schools for 2017. The workshops were also hosted during special events including the Zululand Science Festival, National Science Week and Africa Code Week. A total of 1675 people, including 1500 students, participated in the workshops.