by Aurora Oberg and Kris Wiley

Roseburg Public Library’s youth programming this fall focuses on Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and Math (STEAM) through a Library Services and Technology Act grant provided by the State Library of Oregon.

Youth Services Librarian Aurora Oberg and Resource Assistance for Rural Environments (RARE) AmeriCorps Participant Katie Fischer developed a project to purchase equipment and supplies for hands-on learning opportunities that provide a sustainable, long-term source of STEAM education for youth from kindergarten through high school graduation.

The project’s centerpiece is a 12-week course that follows the nationally recognized Girls Who Code curriculum, and grant funding paid for laptop computers so each student can practice the concepts taught by Aurora, Katie and volunteer Jenn, who is Director of Engineering at her firm.

Each Thursday, 10 students come to the socially distanced coding class at the library. They begin each session by learning about a woman in the technology field, ranging from Ada Lovelace — the mother of computer programming — to women such as Simone Giertz, who has fun with robots. Highlighting women who work in technology demonstrates to students the variety of career opportunities that involve computer programming and illustrates the diversity of people in tech fields.

After learning about a new person, the adult leaders read and talk about the coding concept for the week. Students are introduced to new vocabulary and talk about how the concept already is used in their daily life. After all that talking, they get to use the computer and put what they learned into practice following a Scratch tutorial that furthers their understanding of the concepts.

Scratch is a system that interacts like puzzle pieces that can be manipulated easily and is an accessible introduction to coding languages.

As the students try things on their own, the leaders help as needed and view the students’ progress on the week’s coding lesson. It is a great time to encourage students in what they have done on their own, as well as see how complex they can develop their program in the allotted time.

The coding students learn at the library fundamental skills that can be scaled up to create things we use every day. Coding is the basic language that gives a machine its instructions. Checking the weather on a smartphone is an app created through coding. Opening a web browser to shop online uses coding. Setting a coffeepot to brew automatically in the morning uses coding.

Later in the fall, students in the class will experiment with STEAM manipulatives such as Ozobots, which are small robots they will learn to program, thereby adding skills to their knowledge base.

Finally, all school-age children are eligible to receive grab-and-go STEAM kits with accompanying Facebook videos that introduce concepts such as weather and simple machines. Aurora will announce the availability of grab-and-go kits on the library’s Facebook page (@roseburglibrary) throughout the fall.

The library has four goals for the project: providing access to library services, materials and information resources; using technology to increase interest in STEAM education and allow students to connect with STEAM in an engaging, creative and experiential learning environment; developing information literacy skills that prepare students for long-term educational and occupational success; and fostering lifelong learning by creating an encouraging environment that forges a connection to the library as an educational resource.

We have had great success with the coding classes so far and anticipate offering future sessions that allow more students to engage with coding and STEAM at the library.

Aurora Oberg is the Youth Services Librarian at Roseburg Public Library. She can be reached at aoberg@cityofroseburg.org or 541-492-7054.

Kris Wiley is the director of the Roseburg Public Library. She can be reached at kwiley@cityofroseburg.org or 541-492-7051.