Rock, paper, scissors… robot??
At this week’s NII Explore Code-a-thon at G. C. Huston Public School on Tuesday, November 21, students took part in both online and offline activities to learn new coding concepts. Whether it is throwing down scissors to beat paper as they learn about conditional statements, or discovering the ins and outs of artificial intelligence,
Coding in the Classroom lessons - which reached 9,100 local students over the 2022-2023 school year - deliver accessible, engaging computer science education.
However, the learning does not end when the NII Explore team has packed up the last coding robot!
NII Explore has announced that parents/guardians and teachers can access all the organization's coding lesson plans for Grade 2 to 8 students for free with no signups required. The 450-page binder has been provided to local school boards in physical copies, but can be accessed by anyone at
nii.ca/coding-in-the-classroom.
“We’ve been able to scale our programs to maximize our impact on our local students thanks to the trust and support of our local school board administrators and teachers, who welcomed us into their classrooms over the past three years,” said Phillip Craig, Director of NII Explore.
“We are pleased to collaborate with NII Explore on this initiative to support our educators and families in building our students’ knowledge and skills in the area of coding,” said Keith Lefebvre, Superintendent of Education for Bluewater District School Board.
He added: “By enabling easy access to their coding lesson plans, our education partners at NII Explore are modelling our board’s multi-year strategic plan priority of quality instruction by providing relevant learning experiences that foster critical and forward thinking, innovation, creativity and problem solving.”
“This coding curriculum would not have been possible without the selfless commitment to education in our region from the Nuclear Innovation Institute’s Founding Members: Bruce Power, AtkinsRéalis, BWXT Canada, Cameco, E.S. Fox and Kinectrics,” said Bruce Wallace, Chair of the NII Explore Board of Directors.
Parents/guardians and educators can browse and download the lessons by visiting
nii.ca/coding-in-the-classroom and join the conversation by tagging
@NIIExplore in their Instagram posts showcasing their young coders in action!
NII Explore is a not-for-profit charitable organization dedicated to delivering enhanced science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) opportunities to school-aged children to learn, experiment, discover, and create. Students living in Bruce, Grey, and Huron counties and local Indigenous communities are able to access the skills, knowledge, and technologies required to live and work in a rapidly changing world.
Source: NII Explore media release