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NASA Youth Space Challenge Toronto

Ooblecks, aliens, and 3D printers—oh my!

Come use your hands and brains to learn about and explore through the NASA Youth Space Challenge Toronto. As the official youth branch of the Toronto NASA Space Apps Challenge and in partnership with Hive Toronto and Mozilla, youth ages 9–15 will explore and learn about space like never before.

Saturday April 12, 2014
Ontario Science Centre
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Activities

Registration and check-in opens at 12 noon. Between 1pm and 5pm, space-themed activities will be run by some of Toronto's leading tech organizations, including Hive Toronto, Mozilla, Kids Learning Code, FabSpaces and Meat Locker Editions.

Challenge: Create your own adventure book

You can customize and print a booklet from one of three templates: create your own alien language & secret messages with a decoder, create a picture book of space travel, or design your own comic strip.

Challenge: Make your own space buttons

At this station, you'll learn how to manipulate photos in the free online image editor, Pixlr! You can then print them out and turn them into wearable buttons.

Challenge : Voyage to Mars

Using the Remix the City platform and gifs, you'll be able to storyboard your very own Mars mission! Stories will be shared and displayed throughout the day.

Challenge: Remix your own space projects

At this station, you'll use Mozilla's free web literacy tools Thimble and Popcorn to create and remix your very own space-themed projects.

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Sponsors


Host Sponsors

Organizing Sponsors


Community supporters

Attending Organizations


Organizers

Kathryn Meisner

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Kathryn Meisner

Director at Hive Toronto

Kathryn Meisner is the Director of the Hive Toronto Learning Network (Hive Toronto), a Mozilla initiative supported by funding from the Ontario Trillium Foundation. Hive Toronto is the first Canadian node within a growing, global network of connected learning organizations. Hive is a city-wide lab where educators, designers, scientists, technologists and other youth development experts collaborate to develop innovative learning experiences for youth.

Kathryn has built and managed innovative youth programs and events for Free the Children, We Day, Me to We, Girls Learning Code, the YMCA, and CareerMash. She has also designed and facilitated customized youth curriculum for many national and local organizations including the Girl Guides of Canada and the Toronto District School Board. Her interest in the intersection of youth, education, and technology have led her to speak at various conferences and events including SXSWedu, Girls in Tech, and TEDxYMCAAcademy.

Matthew Potter

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Matthew Potter

Avid Pants-Wearer

Matthew is a seasoned designer, developer and instructor. He specializes in graphic communication and is complimented by extensive knowledge in design workflows and production processes. Matthew is also a public speaker, the chapter representative for the Toronto InDesign User Group, the organizer of HTML Toronto, a co-organizer of Maker Faire Toronto, and a FITC ambassador. In addition, he's active in several community-driven groups including the Toronto Social Media Café, and acts as the lead developer of Citizen Bridge.

Colin Lacey

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Colin Lacey

A project manager at heart, Colin is a mash-up of urban geography and planning, non-profit fundraising and supporting organizational growth. Colin adds his unique touch and aptitude for perfection in coordinating projects for Hive Toronto & Exhibit Change. Colin has worked in both in the private and non-profit sectors and his experience has ranged from consulting to fundraising to implementing urban restoration projects across the GTA.


James Costa

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James Costa

Founder & creative director at The Phuse

James Costa works with The Phuse, a team of designers and developers, to craft websites, interfaces, and brands. In his spare time, James co-founded Positive Gear, an organization that speaks and works with youth to empower them towards positive change, and is the Director of Marketing for the Trek for Teens Foundation that raises funds and awareness for youth homelessness in Toronto.

Ashley Lewis

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Ashley Lewis

Maker and tech educator

Ashley Jane Lewis is a Maker and Youth Tech Educator. She spent a year and a half leading the ground-up development of Girls Learning Code, an attempt to encourage more girls and women in technology. She designs content for the TIFF Bell Lightbox, creating an Arduino gadget-making workshop for the Bond Exhibit and coding workshops for their DigiPlaySpace. After coming 1st in Toronto's Startup Weekend Maker Edition and 2nd globally, Ashley and her team have begun to create a product that makes reading more interactive for kids. Alongside her brother, Brandon Lewis, an award winning filmmaker, Ashley has launched BYTE a series of film and code bootcamps that strategically engage kids of colour in the creative technological arts. She's spoken at TEDx, EdTechTO and several PechaKuchas. In addition, Ashley has done Digital Media Production for TVO and is currently the coordinator of the new Transmedia Zone at Ryerson University.

FAQs

What Will Youth Do at the Event?

Not only will youth be able to make, create, and collaborate at this event, they will have the chance to have a chat with space experts.

This event is meant to be a semi-unstructured, collaborative, creativity-inspiring experience for youth. There is no strict agenda, because we think just a touch of chaos is good for learning.

There will be several activity stations set up for youth to visit. When youth arrive, they'll be free to choose where they spend their time. This gives them the opportunity to work on the projects that they personally find interesting. Some will float around, spending time at many stations and working on many different things, while others will choose to spend the majority of their time working on one project. We welcome this sort of self-directed learning.

Each station will have volunteer instructors and assistants - there to teach youth how to use the tools, and then to support them as they think creatively and explore the power of technology.

Who should come?

Youth ages 9-15. Like space? Like technology? Like trying something new? If you answered "yes" to one or more of those questions, then this event is for you!

What should I bring?

A laptop! If you don't have one or can't borrow one, click here to request one and we will do our best to get you set up with one for the day!