Children and teenagers will be given a rare chance to develop their computing skills with world-class computing scientists at the first summer computing camps to be conducted by the Qatar Computing Research Institute (QCRI), part of Hamad Bin Khalifa University (HBKU), later this month. 

QCRI will run two separate programs – two separate week-long Young Makers Camps for children aged from 9 to 12, and a two-week Arduino Teen Camp for teenagers aged from 14 to 18 – from Sunday, July 16 to Thursday, July 27.

Both programs are free and will be conducted at QCRI’s Creative Space Lab, at the HBKU Research Complex in Education City.

Dr Eman Fituri, QCRI’s Director of Educational Initiatives, said no prior experience was required for the camps, with fun activities coordinated by the research institute’s scientists.

“We want kids to become creators of technology, we want them to learn how to invent and innovate and solve problems that can assist their everyday lives,” Dr Fituri said.

The Young Makers Camp will provide students with hands-on challenges to encourage creative problem solving, teamwork and innovation. The children will learn design, coding and how to develop engineering solutions over five daily three-hour sessions beginning on Sunday, July 16 and Sunday, July 23.  Dr Fituri said the second week’s activities would be different from the first for students wanting to register for both weeks of the computing camp.

Participants in the two-week Arduino Teen Camp will learn how to create electronic gadgets that can interact with the real world, in three-hour daily sessions during the fortnight-long course between July 16 and 27.

QCRI successfully launched its Creative Space at an open house event in May. About 100 children from kindergarten age to Grade 12 were registered for the event within a day of it being announced – and they didn’t want to leave.