DRIVEN BY KIDS: The DRIVE digital learning lab

With the DRIVEN BY KIDS workshops, Volkswagen is helping children strengthen their digital media skills. “Over the last few months, we have given more than 2000 children access to digital training. That’s an enormous success!” says DRIVE Director Liane Scheinert. “Creative programmes for children and teens are very important to us. That’s why we plan to continue the learning lab concept in the future so that girls and boys can have fun discovering the world of mobility.”

The schoolchildren explored the Ars Electronica exhibition at DRIVE, which focuses on the alleged perfection of the digital world. They learned that errors and deviations from the norm always conceal an opportunity.

While the youngsters wrote their first code using the TurtleCoder application development environment, they were also learning to have fun discovering the underlying principles of algorithmic structures. This programmed code produced everything from simple lines to complex patterns, generating genuine works of art that were then printed on paper.

From all the pieces produced, each school group chose the most creative one for their entry in the competition. A jury then evaluated the 77 submitted works and selected the winners in cooperation with Volkswagen and the Ars Electronica curator.

The first prize went to class 4/5/6k from Pettenkofer Primary School in Berlin. “The kids were thrilled to receive the big cheque. EUR 1000 for the class kitty will enable us to carry out many other projects,” said teacher Aileen Jädicke.

The second and third place winners from Tempelhofer Feld Primary School and Potsdam International Primary School were also pleased to receive their cash prizes.