About YCS
The Young Coders Society is a non-profit dedicated to providing children access to computer science and technology. We believe that by providing kids with the right materials and environment to learn, we can inspire the next generation of coders.
We believe that literacy in computer science and skill with technology are invaluable assets for creating a brighter future for the children of today and the adults of tomorrow.
Many young people are discouraged from getting under the hood of the technology around them due to fears of breaking it. The best way to acquire skill with technology is to be a builder of technology - not just a user. By getting under the hood of technology we use everyday, children can begin a habit of exploring and understanding technology.
About Our Events
The Young Coders Society organizes educational events at which children are led through a fun, creative project that involves coding, creating and building technology. The focus of these events is on getting under the hood of the many devices that we use everyday - computers, video game systems, stereos, etc.
Central to these events are inexpensive pieces of technology, such as the Raspberry Pi. At the end of each event, children are allowed to keep the technology that they used and the projects that they created and are encouraged to continue exploring and building at home. Our goal is for each Young Coders Society event to be a launching pad for children to start a lifetime habit of building, coding and tinkering with the technology around us.
There is a rich online community of hobbyists, makers and programmers who encourage, help and inspire one another to build creative projects using inexpensive technology. See the Projects We Love section for some of our favorites!
What is Raspberry Pi?
The Raspberry Pi is a low cost, credit-card sized computer that plugs into a computer monitor or TV, and uses a standard keyboard and mouse. It is a capable little device that enables people of all ages to explore computing, and to learn how to program in languages like Scratch and Python. It’s capable of doing everything you’d expect a desktop computer to do, from browsing the internet and playing high-definition video, to making spreadsheets, word-processing, and playing games.
What’s more, the Raspberry Pi has the ability to interact with the outside world, and has been used in a wide array of digital maker projects, from music machines and parent detectors to weather stations and tweeting birdhouses with infra-red cameras. We want to see the Raspberry Pi being used by kids all over the world to learn to program and understand how computers work.
You can read more about the history of Raspberry Pi and the people who have helped to make it the success at raspberrypi.org.