As you may well know, Kids on the Net was formed in the summer of 1997 as a wholly student run organization, under the auspices of the Nunavut Research Institute. Our purpose was to teach Internet and computer skills to Iqaluit children through intensive camps and free workshops.

     With the introduction of fundamental robotics and principles in science, to our mainly computer based foundation, Kids on the Net has grown and expanded it’s program to include the fascinating world of science and technology.

    Last summer, we offered free in-school science/technology workshops to Iqaluit’s elementary schools and junior high classes. Workshops covered rocketry, hot-air balloon making, aeronautics, computers, robotics, chemistry, physics, and others. These workshops combined with Municipality of Iqaluit summer day camp workshops and our intensive day camp program broadened the Kids on the Net outreach to nearly 600 total participants inside a three-month period between June and August last summer.

    During this time of growth, Kids on the Net has also been granted membership to YES/VACC (Youth in Engineering Science/Virtual Adventure Camps Canada). YES/VACC is a national organization of Canadian computer/science/technology camps.

    YES/VACC is comprised of 27 wholly student run member camps from coast to coast to coast, reaching well over 200,000 children annually. The organization has been nationally recognized with the Michael Smith award for Science education. Both of the KOTN staff members attended the semi-annual YES/VACC conferences this past summer at Queen’s University in Kingston, and this winter in Toronto. We left with an extreme sense of community and a realization of the nationally shared vision to educate and explore all aspects of science with children. This community of students is phenomenally strong, and is of one Kids on the Net’s largest assets. Because of close contacts and resources available through YES/VACC and its member camps, Kids on the Net has at its fingertips access to resources and programs from some of Canada’s premier universities.

    Both of the Kids on the Net staff have been well recognized within our national organization.  Last year the current director, Gwen Healey, was awarded an excellence in teaching achievement award and our former director now sits as a Program Coordinator and member of the board of Directors

    Now the planning for our 1999 summer program has begun. We have new and exciting projects and ideas to add to and help improve our program. Among our ideas, we plan to conduct an all-girls camp to help encourage young girls who are interested in science and engineering. We would also like to explore the possibility of creating a travelling Kids on the Net camp, to conduct  science and technology workshops in three or four Baffin communities during the month of August.

    In 1999, Kids on the Net may also have the opportunity to conduct training workshops in the communities of Rankin Inlet and Cambridge Bay. These workshops would assist in the development and creation of science-based workshops, across all three regions of Nunavut.

Philosophy and Objectives:

     Kids on the net is all about accessibility. For too long, computers and science has been seen as out of reach for kids in Iqaluit. One of the goals of Kids on the Net is to bring computers, science and technology down to Earth. To show kids that they can do whatever they like with their live.

    A primary example of this is our work with robotic LEGO Dacta. The common reaction of kids to robots is that they are far out of reach, something worked on down South by scientists who know A LOT more then any Iqaluit kid.

    That’s not the case. With LEGO Dacta, Kids on the Net can take any child and turn them into a robotics engineer within a couple of hours. Having access to these types of resources shows kids that nothing is beyond their grasp, they can do and be anything they put their minds to and more!