Scratch, CS First, BeeBots, Tinkercad, micro:bits. These terms may sound foreign to parents, but they’ll be hearing them more often in the coming days as OCSB students participate in Computer Science Education Week. Students from Kindergarten to Grade 12 will be encouraged to wonder, tinker, and delve into coding activities throughout the week.
Coding and computational thinking are now part of the Ontario curriculum in Grades 1 through 9. Coding allows students to develop essential skills such as problem-solving, critical thinking, creativity, perseverance, and attention to detail. Even younger students can benefit from learning the basics.
The week will be full of opportunities for students in all grades to understand how computer science impacts our world. OCSB consultants have designed a week-long program with various activities and workshops for educators. We want students to realize that coding goes beyond math and science class. It has a role in so many parts of our lives!
Code to Joy
The week’s highlight will be the Code to Joy contest, where students can display their creativity and coding skills. Students will be encouraged to code something representing this year’s Spiritual Theme of Joy using whatever coding medium they choose. They will then record a video of their code in action, and teachers will share the projects throughout the Board.
Live Coding Sessions for all Grade Levels
Throughout the week, classes will have the chance to participate in live coding sessions using applications tailored to their grade level. Activities in the elementary grades will include:
- Animating a Christmas card.
- Racing in a bilingual debugging relay.
- Grooving to an unplugged dance party where students will learn the basics of coding and music theory.
Students in grades 7-12 will have a chance to code the moon’s phases, get creative and remix songs from Indigenous artists, or modify their favourite video games.
Virtual Field Trip: Understanding the Internet
How do our pictures get to our friends, and how do their videos get to us? On Thursday, students in grades 6-12 will discover how the web works when they join E2 Adventures’ virtual field trip to the heart of the internet. They’ll learn how media content is created and released, and promoted on the internet, how all that information is stored, and about the equipment that enables it to travel around the globe.
Exploring Computer Science Career Opportunities
Throughout the week, students in grades 5-12 learn about various computer science jobs. They’ll hear from an online curator, a selection of computer science heroes who have done meaningful, inspiring work in the area, and a career panel whose participants work in artificial intelligence, entrepreneurship, and big data.
Find Us On Social Media!
Be sure to ask your child about what they are learning this week, and check social media to see how Computer Science Education Week is celebrated in our schools. Our educators will share their class experience using hashtags #ocsbCSEd and #ocsbCodes.