Young minds doing holiday work at Mind Lab

BUSY HANDS: Mind Lab EdTech educator Shanon O’Connor shows Riley Knight, 7, Tulson Sparrow, 7, and Flynn Sparrow, 9, the basics of robotics. Pictures by Liam Clayton

THE school holidays are in full swing and children from all over the North Island are coming to Gisborne to learn about robotics.

The Mind Lab by Unitec’s digital learning facility in Gisborne has been a hive of activity during the holidays and education director Tim Gander said not just local children had been benefiting from learning about robotics, coding and 3D printing through the facility’s holiday programme.

“The Mind Lab Gisborne also welcomed children who travelled from Auckland, Rotorua, Hamilton and Hastings to feed their boundless curiosity alongside their Gisborne friends," Mr Gander said.

“The Mind Lab Gisborne has been a hive of activity these July school holidays. These holidays students have unleashed their creative minds, exploring a variety of technologies and techniques as they develop as future creators and innovators.

“Working collaboratively, children have taken up multidisciplinary challenges in the areas of robotics, 3D design and printing, coding and animation, science and engineering, and web and graphic design."

The Mind Lab Gisborne EdTech educator Shanon O’Connor said it was great to have children come into the Mind Lab and watch them challenge their own understanding of what they were capable of.

“The joy on their faces when they first struggle, then succeed, at programming the robot they built with their own hands is so promising for our future. These kids are the creators of our future, not just the consumers.”