Students and staff from across the Nipissing-Parry Sound Catholic District School Board gathered at St. Joseph-Scollard Hall yesterday for an interactive day of learning, focused on new technology and an introduction to coding in the classroom.
The event, entitled Google Summit 2.0, joined selected students in Grade 5 and 6 and teacher leads for a day of seminars and group work as well as a keynote address from coding expert and STEM enthusiast, Lisa Floyd.
“We were thrilled to have Lisa lead us in our learning today,” says Peter Anello, Technology-Enabled Learning Facilitator at the Nipissing-Parry Sound Catholic District School Board. “The link between what students learn when coding directly relates to other curriculum subjects like math, literacy and social studies. Lisa and our other presenters today were able to make really tough concepts fun and engaging for students,” he adds.
Highlights from the day included experimenting with Spheros, a robot which helps students learn to program and working together to solve a Breakout Edu mystery, which is an educational game based on the popular Escape Room movement. Students also had the opportunity to learn about creating websites, creating graphic organizers, logos and working with Google Docs.
“We are really happy to see the level of excitement and engagement this day brought to our junior students,” says Paula Mann, Superintendent of Education. “We know these learning opportunities build understanding and skills in coding are important as they can play a role in shaping future career directions and pathways for our students. We hope to welcome all of these students into our computer programing courses in offered at St. Joseph – Scollard Hall.” she says.
