The Processing Foundation is a group of arts educators that came together to make simple but powerful coding tools for making interactive art and 2D games with computers. Over the last few years, their efforts have focused on developing p5.js which is a versatile javascript library that has all the functionality of “Processing”, but in a browser environment.

Educators are starting to use p5.js to teach computer science, and importantly Dan Shiffman’s The Coding Train YouTube channel uses p5.js extensively. The STEMcoding project, led by Prof. Chris Orban at Ohio State, also uses p5.js to show kids how coding relates to science and math by using it to create 2D video games with simple physics. In 2017, the STEMcoding project launched a YouTube channel and created “The Physics of Video Games” activity on Hour of Code.

Prof. Orban will give an overview of the STEMcoding project and talk about possibilities for collaboration, for example, in the development of new coding activities that he would share with his educator network, and “Physics of Video Games” workshops at Columbus libraries.