Coding and Makerspaces in MVSD

*This post has been written as part of my journey as a Ph.D student through University of Regina

MakerSpace Resources

Within our division we do not have any school buildings with spaces that are officially designated as Makerspaces. However, we have elements of “maker culture” in every school space. This includes:

curriculum-focused spaces for classes such as home-economics, wood-working, design, art, and more
library work spaces with a variety of loose-parts
student common spaces with supplies such as lego, magnatiles, devices, loose-parts, etc
outdoor classrooms with loose-parts sourced from the local environment
classroom-based creation stations/centers (especially common at the K-Gr 5 level)

An example of one of the more technological maker-style spaces within our division can be seen below:

@thompsonclassroom
how cool is this maker space!? #mvsd_mb #makerspace #stem #IA #edtech #teachertiktok
♬ Happy Up Beat (Medium) – TimTaj

One element that I oversee is the curation and distribution of our divisional Tech Kits. These kits are available for loan by any MVSD staff member and are designed to support programming from K-12. Not only do staff have access to the items themselves but the kits also include hardcopy resources to support use, a digital companion page of further resources, and access to myself (the Coordinator of ICT) for assistance.

You can check out what these look like below with our promotional flier and some TikTok videos I made to share with staff:


  
  

MVSD Technology Kits Flyer - PD Resource Centre by Kirsten Cali

@thompsonclassroom
tomorrow’s tech pd showcases all of the #mvsd_mb tech kits for teachers #HackToSchoolWithRogers #microsoftedu #ClearlyTransform #teachertiktok
♬ What’s This? – We Just Wanna Party

@thompsonclassroom
just a few of our tech kits available for loan for our teachers #mvsd_mb #edtech #teachertiktok #teachersoftiktok #POV
♬ original sound – Thompson Classroom

My Experience with Coding

The topic of coding is something that has shown up on this blog quite a few times. To get a sense of what coding looks like in MVSD, how I support teachers with coding, and some accounts to follow I recommend you check these out:

My Favourite Coding Resources To Share With Teachers

Computer Science Fundamentals(Elementary)

“Computer science fosters creativity and teaches students critical thinking skills to become proactive learners, so elementary school is the ideal time for students to be introduced to CS. Our six Computer Science Fundamentals courses are flexibly designed for teachers new to CS who want to offer accessible and equitable introductory CS courses to their students.”
https://code.org/educate/curriculum/elementary-school

Computer Science fundamentals offers 18-22hour courses for K-5 students (including pre-reader appropriate activities).

Computer Science Fundamentals Express (Middle-High School)

“Computer Science Fundamentals Express is a 30+ hour course designed for 9-18 year old students (with an option for pre-readers). It can be taught once a week in a tech class or an after school club, integrated as a unit in a longer technology class, or used as an intro unit in a computer science class. Students learn to create computer programs that will help them learn to collaborate with others, develop problem-solving skills, and persist through difficult tasks. They will study programming concepts, computational thinking, digital citizenship, and develop interactive games or stories they can share.”
https://code.org/educate/curriculum/express-course

Computer Science Discoveries(Middle-High School)

“Computer Science Discoveries is appropriate for 6 – 10th grade students and can be taught as a semester or year long introductory course (3-5 hours per week of instruction for 9+ weeks). The course takes a wide lens on computer science by covering topics such as programming, physical computing, HTML/CSS, and data. The course inspires students as they build their own websites, apps, games, and physical computing devices. Our curriculum is available at no cost for anyone, anywhere to teach. For more information about our goals and approach to our courses, please see our curriculum values and our professional learning values.”
https://code.org/educate/csd

Curriculum Overview

Unit 1:
Problem Solving and
Computing
Unit 2:
Web Development
Unit 3:
Animations and Games
Students learn the problem-solving process, the input-output-store-process model
of a computer, and how computers help humans solve problems. Students end
the unit by proposing their own app to solve a problem.
Students learn to create websites using HTML and CSS inside Code.org's Web
Lab environment. Throughout the unit, students consider questions of privacy and
ownership on the internet as they develop their own personal websites.
Students learn fundamental programming constructs and practices in the
JavaScript programming language while developing animations and games in
Code.org's Game Lab environment. Students end the unit by designing their own
animations and games.

Unit 4:
The Design Process
Unit 5:
Data and Society
Unit 6:
Physical Computing
Students apply the problem solving process to the problems of others, learning to
empathize with the needs of a user and design solutions to address those needs.
During the second half of the unit, students form teams to prototype an app of
their own design, first on paper and eventually in Code.org's App Lab
environment.
Students explore different systems used to represent information in a computer
and the challenges and tradeoffs posed by using them. In the second half of the
unit, students learn how collections of data are used to solve problems and how
computers help to automate the steps of this process.
Students use Code.org's App Lab environment, in conjunction with the Adafruit
Circuit Playground, to explore the relationship between hardware and software.
Throughout the unit, students develop prototypes that mirror existing innovative
computing platforms, before ultimately designing and prototyping one of their own.

What are your favourite coding resources? Share them in the comments below!