The Kalpana Clubs
The Kalpana Club is an effort to provide kids a structured (yet flexible) environment where they can let their
imaginations roam free - and build and understand interesting things. The kids play, have fun, and work in
the following activity areas:
- Geometry and Algebra
- Art and Music
- Animation
In all these activities, the computer (and specifically computer programming) is the medium of expression. Kalpana Clubs make use of The Kojo Learning Environment, a free and open source software application, to enable the activities of the club.
With the various activities within the Kalpana Club, kids get to:
- Develop their logical and analytical thinking abilities. This kind of capability is essential for computer programming. This capability is also at the heart of mathematical problem solving.
- Experiment with mathematical concepts by playing with mathematical objects that they create.
- Work within teams to do projects on mathematical and scientific concepts, and their applications to the real word.
- Do creative work and exercise their imaginations by drawing sketches and composing music on the computer.
- Practice using computers and the Internet effectively and productively (an essential capability for the 21st century), and become familiar with some of the ideas underlying computers.