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During the months of February and March, Mercer County 4-H has been hosting a series of Coding classes for youth after school. The teens meet after school once a week to explore the intersection of STEM and ethics following the 4-H curriculum developed by the University of California Extension. The series has already covered topics not often discussed in the STEM field at a young age- culture, bias, ethical dilemma, and fair representation. All the while, teens have also been learning about computational topics- computational thinking, algorithms, and abstraction. The conversations that have sparked from the blending of these topics have invited the participants to think about how computer science and Artificial Intelligence can have inherent biases and how they, as the next generation of scientists, can combat ethical issues in these fields.
The remainder of the series will focus on micro:bit, a small microchip computer which can be controlled using computer science. The teens will use the computational skills developed so far to code micro:bit and its features- lights, sound, and other sensors. The series will end with the teens creating their own project focusing on a STEM ethical issue that can be solved using micro:bit coding. These projects focus on addressing bias in computer science. At a young age, these participants are learning that there are issues within this field, but more importantly, they have the power to address them.
The teens are former participants of our immersive 6-week STEM Explorers summer camp. They have shown a deep interest in science, and Mercer County 4-H continues to provide engagement past the summer to help these teens develop their STEM skills and identity. Some of the participants will return to STEM Explorers Summer Camp this summer, and others will join our 4-H STEM Ambassadors program.