Children's robotics in the Crimea prevails
Last week I returned from the Sevastopol Robotic Children's Center, and I want to tell you about what I saw there and around.
For total immersion, we will begin with the story of Sergey Schukin, who came to the Crimea a year ago to raise IT. It began with the fact that he had the Internet, but there was no power in the sockets.
Robotics and why I came
Seryoga Schukin asked me to look around and say what can be done with his initial disposition in terms of the development of children. The fact is that he was born and raised in Moscow, and I - in Astrakhan, and therefore working with a small city, where the Internet is still new to people, it represented better.
He develops robotics in the city because he wants IT specialists to grow here. Always together with his wife Julia (you, maybe, you know her by extension for programmers ) they dreamed of something like that - and they seized. We have been working with them for a long time in approximately parallel fields both in education and in children, and in general, we are always very helpful in changing experiences. Among other things, we put in this game center, and it was interesting to see how they went.
On the site was a luxurious two-story building with a gas generator attached to one of the windows.
It turned out that they turned off the light regularly and often, and therefore the IT specialists worked for a while on solarium and gasoline. The kind of gas generator immediately convinced me that it was fun.
In general, last year coworking was quietly sitting here. The idea was that many IT specialists would come here in the summer (with families, in particular), and would want to work somewhere. There is a need. Because IT professionals can work from anywhere, if in this place there is a connection, cookies and food.
The first six months Sloboda existed incomprehensibly like - no one really counted the money and did not think about expenses. This is often the case with investor money, for which you personally will not have to answer. There was a basic educational program at the level of single lectures and masterclasses. It seems that the cash gap was less than a million, but not by much.
As a result, Shchukin was discharged to redo the institution, in fact, as it turned out, to the center of child development.
In the hall, every 3 meters here are such “chandeliers”, as in the African steampunk cafe
He made a big booze, during which he parted with all the guests of the building with friends. Then they immediately opened robotics courses for children, began to teach TRIZ, and for the smallest - various educational things.
There are two floors in the building, on the first floor there is an open space and a kitchen (now there is a sensory kindergarten for the youngest, a kitchen, a study room and a lecture hall):
On the second there are private rooms like small classrooms (now there are classes for robotic groups).
A year ago, there was a programming course for the already assembled robots on Scratch and there were about 30 children studying (two weeks ago there were 236 children). The following robot platform was used:
The problem with it was that these were far from the robots that children used to see in cartoons. The study sessions sometimes began like this: parents with children twisted the platform in their hands, put it on the table and asked: “Where are the robots?”.
Therefore, they decided to launch courses on Lego Meindstorms. A team from Moscow came to change experiences. They brought two courses - in programming in Minecraft and in rocket production in the Kerbala space program. They scored several test groups in August, and on these groups they trained how to teach new courses.
LEGO children liked unreal. There you can collect anything from Lego details and ready-made blocks like a large motor, two smaller motors, an IR sensor (it can also be used as a reference beacon), a sonar for measuring distance, a touch sensor, a light sensor and color, and other similar magic elements. . A couple of weeks ago, a seven-year-old girl gathered a “kitty”, which sat down at the sight of a yellow card, and her classmates with interest collected a snake from several sets, trying to make it crawl only in the dark. Children were more interested in the design of the robot, not in the program - “Yes, there will be two branches in the code, but most importantly, I’ve already invented ears!”.
Place for lectures
Minecraft kids liked because of Minecraft. They live there, love him and appreciate. But the course turned out, alas, not quite about programming, so it had to be greatly redone.
But Kerbala space did not go at all - orbital mechanics for children turned out to be too complicated, especially considering the limited resource of fuel in the missions. In the lesson in which you need to reduce two satellites for docking, children after the fifteenth attempt began to lose interest - there really is difficult. Although before that, they enthusiastically dropped the devices on the ground and compared who had a more powerful explosion. If you could explain to your parents that after a couple of months of explosive play, children will begin to understand aerodynamics, be interested in the apocenter, percenter and easily calculate the trajectory to Mars using a gravity maneuver - maybe it would. But parents want their children to have high-paying jobs, and therefore they raise IT people from them. At least try.
Robots
The robots are different here, from those on Lego (on top of the ports are the controller):
To those for the smallest courses with “crazy hands”:
More children collect all garbage from improvised means. For example, here is the hourglass of burnt lamps:
And they make the planets, if they are very small:
Our Taxi is also there: children play a lot on the desk, because from the point of view of their parents, sitting at the laptop is damn good, but harmful. Therefore, the logic boards are popular:
Now Seryoga tells:
“The guys left after 3 weeks, and we needed sets. Here is another ambush. One basic set of Lego with a robot and sensors then cost about 25 thousand rubles (today EV3 45544 costs already 30 ), plus you need a laptop for programming with a children's IDE. This automatically meant an important feature of the courses - the collected robots are photographed, shown to parents, and then immediately understood. So that other children can collect something further from their parts. Even when I went to school, I had only one robot - a special demonstration, not participating in the training.
Pricing after all attempts to shrink was this: the most expensive course - Lego and robots, 3400 rubles per month (by occupation per week). Scratchduino - 2900 per month. Electromechanics in Minecraft - 2900 per month. We measured the elasticity of demand on 140 people. These prices are the limit for the region. The average salary here, on sensations, is slightly lower than 20 thousand rubles, and only the father often works in the family.
September was approaching - the groups were filled with children - now we don’t have 30, but 239. But the guys who introduced Lego to us began to fail with delivery dates for new lessons, plus they responded to letters in the style of a robot from the call center: but now they are very busy. ” At that moment, when they did not answer the telephone for five days, I gave the task to my teachers to develop their own programs for safety net. At the same time, another important event happened - the computer science teacher taught everyone the GEF format - so all the courses began to take shape immediately according to one standard and structurally. The teachers were involved - they liked formulating their experience and opened up the Methodist chakras - as a result, they themselves began to write even those courses that we bought from the Kazan franchise.
Now we have 292 children studying, but these are not only robots, but all the courses, including a children's development center on the first floor. In parallel, they opened a class in another residential area of the city (opposite to the center), but there, apparently, we will close for the summer. ”
People and Programs
So, they already had Scratch, they took Lego robots, rewrote the course on Minecraft (now it was not “Programming”, but “Fundamentals of Logic and Electromechanics”), plus they got the franchise of the Child Development Center, and they also launched a science show children are shown various spectacular experiences), which their parents liked a lot and allowed them to demonstrate that they are not just sitting at the computer, but also chewing something up. The louder it was, the more parents believed that it was useful.
More parents really believe the teachers, seeing in front of him very specific interesting people. Again, I quote Seryoga, I myself have been there for only three days, and therefore I did not have time to get to know everyone in detail.
Denis
“Denis is the teacher with the quietest voice: at first we even worried - how will he and a group of 12 children be managed? But nothing - he tells children tremendous things, at each lesson he shares stories from life, shows why these things they pass are needed for. As a result - in his classes an unusual silence - and a quiet voice is not a hindrance, but his advantage.
At leisure, Denis plays almost everything that plays. Except, perhaps, the bagpipes ... Or maybe on the bagpipe too, I just have not seen it yet. He performs in the Irish Evening group in local bars - not to earn money, but because he loves music. I want to persuade his terminoks with children to gash. Graduated from the Sevastopol National Technical University in radio engineering, postgraduate studies at the Sevastopol National Technical University (Radio and Television Systems), studied at the Cisco Academy at the Sevastopol National Technical University. Senior Lecturer at the same department, Researcher at the Engineering Center for Micro and Nanoelectronics Products, Security Systems Engineer. ”
Eugene
“Zhenya is an intellectual who you rarely see now. Always polite, very tidy, smiling even when sick. Everybody loves him - from children to colleagues. I always thought he wrote poetry at home. Imagine my surprise when it turned out that he was driving cross-country in Crimea at his leisure, and not just as an amateur, but at the level of participation in competitions. And even when Eugene was younger, he and his friends were chasing the network into a hardcore Formula 1 - F1 Challenge '99 -'02 simulator. Given that in the original game there was a cant with multiplayer, the guys had to fix it themselves, and only then - they sat down behind the steering wheels and pedals in order to pass the track with all the features, including the actual number of laps.
Education - SevNTU - automation and computer-integrated technologies, automation of technological processes and production, publications on mechanical engineering. He knows the technical process of the Novovoronezh nuclear power plant (he cannot tell - I asked - everything is secret there) and knows how to manage the automated control system for the turbo-installation. ”
Vladislav
“Vlada conducts classes with the smallest engineers - seven-year-olds. While we have not purchased Lego WeDo for them, they are engaged in the “DIY” circle - they make different things - from cards with LEDs to a model of the solar system and to hydraulic manipulators.
Vlada has 6 younger brothers and 2 sisters, one of whom is older than her. So it’s easy to do with a group of 12 people how to breathe. She adores children and they respond to her in the same way. Vlada has a photo with GDP. It is now in the Crimea, almost like the two highest. "
Alexey
“A person with a difficult education: Donetsk National Technical University - software development and testing, Donbas National Academy - enterprise economics, Rostov State University of Civil Engineering - economics, Sevastopol State University - information technologies (master). Works as a game designer.
Lesha developed and leads a course that plunges parents into shock, and children into wild delight. This is exactly the course in Minecraft. Yes, we teach children logic and algorithms, as well as simple automation within the gaming environment. And he is also very cheerful - in his own words, “he is still a child in the soul,” and children with him feel free. ”
Sumo
The biggest highlight in the city in terms of promoting the Deus Ex lifestyle was robozum - robots competitions. The rules are simple: children assemble robots, put them on the table, and they try to throw all the other robots off the table. Tactics are standard - either quickly knocking on the enemy, or dodging well and giving a kick in pursuit, or slipping the platform under the enemy and turning him over. For the first time, the logic was not the strongest place for children, and not everyone correctly calibrated the orientation on the beacons and the markings on the table, so part of the robots were thrown out of the battle themselves, from the wrong orientation.
At the end came one almost adult pro who brought a robot with a special “pyramid” design - such that the robots trying to push it fell by themselves, trying to get to the edge of this big guy. And he was on the tracks, which is prohibited under the conditions. Defeating him was very difficult out of competition. Therefore, when he put the robot in the "meat grinder", and immediately five robots attacked him in a crowd, and then they shoved it away, the joy of the children simply did not have an edge. This moment:
Why did I come, actually
The project goes with varying success. The educational program costs from 2,900 to 3,400 rubles for 4 classes (this is a month), and Sevastopol residents are not ready to pay so much. More precisely, how. Ready, but want to see the result instantly: like, paid for a month, and the child became a developer. But how to check this, they do not know.
On the spot it turned out to do this.
Seryoga reduced all incomes and expenses in areas (how much robot technology brings, how many give children's courses on TRIZ and so on). Plus brought everything through the channels of attraction - how many people came from. It turned out that robotics is the most demanded of IT courses for eight-year-olds, and Facebook, Contact and Odnoklassniki work poorly in the city, but traditionally they plow events and other noisy activities well. As in all cities of Russia and in Kiev, ads in the elevator and at the entrance do not work at all. In general, outdoor advertising works well - banner blindness has not yet appeared. The local largest site with a forum works best - it still successfully replaces social networks.
I woolly local channels (newspapers, communities in the city, in the rough calculated ways of streaming children from school to homes and back), studied the mentality of local residents, looked at how children collect robots and, in general, absorbed what I could.
The leaflets were slightly altered:
By the way, pay attention to the mention of C in the first one. 90% of parents didn’t understand her at all, but about 10% were more than a little overwhelmed and immediately asked where exactly C would be on Arduin, and when it would begin.
About the second part - it was very important to explain to the parents why IT is necessary for the child. Factors stood out:
- In the future, without IT - nowhere.
- Developers need a lot, and it will be necessary for a long time. Only in their wages crisis grows.
- You can become a developer at no extra cost in any family.
- The main thing is to learn algorithmic thinking as early as possible.
- One horseradish child will push a computer at any job, so do not be afraid that he will plant a sight. With robots also collect hands, so for the view better than other courses.
- Work as a programmer is a ticket anywhere on the planet (the thesis, which is actually not in favor of our country, but such is life).
I think with this approach it will be easier to explain.
We also agreed to hold local open events, plus give a lot more free trial lessons. It is important - finished, without any “about the landing, read in the next issue”, so that the child, whose parents cannot pay for the education, still get something useful.
About the results, I think it makes sense to start asking a little later.
Seryoga is now engaged in the fact that she is turning her center into a “wardrobe” for children - the parents arrived, they handed over the child, after 5 hours they came again - and took the already trained IT. And so all the rest, if you come with your family.
In the whole city
The building is low-rise, there are no “wells” with an echo in the city, but the cellular Internet is not the most stable. Phones, by the way, are often dictated to 7 digits: for now, there is only the prefix +7978, and it is passed.
PayPal does not work, there is no Google Play, access to all commercial google is blocked - advertising management, Google Docs (personal work, corporate accounts - no), does not plow Ebay, Amazon, no oDesk. Corporate Google Mail also orders to live long.
Seryoga says that Aliexpress is a separate jock: they do not officially support sanctions, but in fact they beat off. Sly Chinese disguise their decision as technical failures. I did not see it myself, but here is proof, and in the same place the method of bypass is to indicate another city, in the name of finely ascribing “Sevastopol”, and the index is from your city. The parcel should not lose, because the routing indexes.
GoDaddy and 101domain simply ban local accounts and sell domains (that's proof ).
EdX did not answer at first, but then began to rezolvit Crimean IP. AirB & B does not work, so you have to rent a house with the help of Avito and the local newspaper ads. Booking works unexpectedly. Gamers tell scary stories about the fact that Blizzards demolished all accounts from the Crimea, along with all game values. Battle.net local no. Steam - do not buy anything, but you can use already purchased.
Naturally, this causes a response. The Zenmate plugin is very popular, there are various proxy configurators for Android. From the publication: “For the App Store, you only need to change the billing address in the settings - for example, in Moscow. Some of the inhabitants of the Crimea even reduced the word “Sevastopol” to “Sev” in the address - and thus successfully avoided blocking ” . Applications swing in the form of *. Apk and put handles. The most difficult thing for iOS developers is that they have to prove clearly and convincingly that they are not from the Crimea.
The local population of respectable age was fucked up. At the bus stop, older men and mothers with wheelchairs have fun discussing the TOR browser. In the queue at the grocery store a couple of times slipped the word VPN from retirees. They do not quite understand how it works, but they speak in the case at the level of practical advice. Due to the fact that the TOR-browser is very simple, many seem to be sitting through it. Seryoga strongly recommended to download Zenmate before the trip, but the VPN was enough for me (after a trip to China, three profiles from different servers and at least two different companies were raised on the phone and on the laptop, one is obligatory L2TP). But everyone worked here.
Inscriptions and signs have changed not all. Sometimes, to survive, you will need to think quickly.
The food is not the cheapest, here is one of the menus. On average, the rest in tourist places are roughly similar in level.
But what a view! This establishment is on the road from Simferopol to Sevastopol:
By the way, it was there that we managed to clearly understand that the plow has one small wheel, not because it is broken, but because it is a constructive, in order to better cling to the ground. Every time I was surprised, and here they explained:
The inhabitants love the city very much, therefore each monument has an unofficial name. This is the “Impotent Dream”.
The center in the season is safe for three nines. Roads in the evening need to go carefully: we saw a couple of times amazing constructions with a lantern striking the driver’s eyes directly from above the junction and an absolutely dark transition underneath (this is due to energy savings at night). Black, dark blue and dark green pedestrians with headlights on in fact can be seen from 10 meters. But by the summer they promise to fix and adjust.
Trade is developed, there is a DNS with all kinds of mouse-wires, there are modern stores of cellular operators, in Sevastopol there are at least two large shopping centers with large grocery and other entertainment infrastructure. But they close at 21:00.
Water is a separate story. Sold in grocery in the form of standard 5-liter cylinders or draft. But the most important thing is these miracle machines:
Here it is closer:
Summary
Now the place is almost heavenly, but I seriously fear that during the season prices will creep up, and there will be an order of magnitude more people.
On the other hand, it will be more difficult to find it in terms of nature: here, for example, there is Foros, where, according to legend, a merchant who suffered from tuberculosis landed a bunch of coniferous endemics, and lived another 10 years instead of the 3 months predicted by the doctor. Locals go to sleep in this small coniferous forest and do not litter it there at all. Here is this place:
On this pine you can have a picnic right on the branch
There are amazing Balaklava Bay with jellyfish and submarines:
The sea here is absolutely magical thanks to the mountains. I met similar pleasant weather only at the Cape of Good Hope - thanks to Mesa. Warm, pleasant, relatively dry, cool wind. Where there are no mountains, the humidity is usually higher, and the heat is much more unpleasant. Therefore, if you swim, then here.
Of the unambiguous advantages, there are very native yards like this: In
general, everything is dear and familiar, that is, if you go with your family - and your wife without English, and children will definitely be easy and convenient. Again, you can take an apartment or a house for a month or two not in the very center and relax (rent a large apartment for 3 rooms after some bargaining - 35 thousand rubles per month). Cable Internet is normal, 2-10 Mbit / s is stable.
Well, call flashbackflip in the comments to tell more details if you have questions.