Elementary Programming
As seen in the header image I spent time in an elementary school classroom helping young children understand basic programming and technology. This included teaching them to make their own programs, and teaching basic computational thinking. Working with young students helped me recognize the value of being able to explain concepts in understandable language. The better they understood, the faster they learned. When the children succeeded in building simple programs, their joy was palpable. This reminded me of how I feel when I overcome the challenges of programming and debugging; at that moment, I realized the significance of the work I was doing.
Teacher Professional Development Leader May 2017
In May of 2017 I served as a workshop leader for elementary school teachers in the area of computational thinking for primary school children. This initiative was held as a part of the BC Ministry of Education’s redesigned curriculum with a requirement for computational thinking. In the workshop I introduced the teachers to basic robotics (Spheros, Makey-makey, Dash and Dot) and Scratch programming. Throughout the day we invited young students from the host school to engage and interact with teachers and the robotic devices, pictured below.
