Coding

Over the past three cataclysmic months, one extraordinary phenomenon (among many) has been the overnight upending of traditional schooling.

Dr. Eric Jackman Institute of Child Study Grade 5 teacher Tanya Demjanenko believes that students need to understand the capabilities of technology and how they can be active participants in the creation of new technology. 

On February 21, the Dr. Eric Jackman Institute of Child Study hosted a public demonstration lesson for approximately 50 educators. Teachers at JICS have for many years participated in lesson study as a professional development approach to strengthen mathematics teaching and learning.

Earlier this year, George Gadanidis (University of Western Ontario) invited us to collaboratively pilot a series of coding and computational thinking lessons with teachers and children in Kindergarten to Grade 6 classrooms with St. Andrews Public School (Toronto District School Board).

The Robertson Program has been exploring ways in which coding can be integrated into the math curriculum as it is an important focus that many provinces have mandated as an essential component to future curriculum development.

The Ontario Institute for Studies in Education (Robertson Program for Inquiry-Based Teaching in Mathematics and Science and the Jackman Institute of Child Study) presented a three-day Coding in the Curriculum Workshop led by Dr. Brent Davis, Werklund Research Professor in Mathematics Education from the Werklund School of Education (University of Calgary).