Coding Deepens Learning in CFSD
Take a look at the news these days and headlines about computer programming, coding, artificial intelligence, and robots fills the pages. Catalina Foothills School District teachers are helping their students to keep pace by integrating coding into their classroom instruction too.
In late September, Apple professional trainers came to Catalina Foothills School District and trained two cohorts of teachers: one at the elementary and middle school level and another at the high school level. Teachers received training in Apple's coding curriculum entitled, Everyone Can Code. This curriculum introduces students to the key concepts of coding as early as kindergarten and continues through app development at the late middle school or high school level. Teachers learned not only about the scope and sequence of the curriculum but also how to successfully build cross-curricular connections between coding and current classroom curricula.
Day two of the training was an exciting opportunity for teachers to co-teach a lesson with the Apple professional learning trainer. Donna Fisher, 4th grade, and Tiffany Wiley, Multi-Age, taught coding lessons to their students at Manzanita Elementary School. Ms. Fisher taught students that algorithms are a set of instructions used to solve a problem. Students applied their learning using Tynker, a coding app. Students also learned about "debugging" in which students identify problems in code and fix them. Students made cross-curricular connections between coding, science, math, and english. Ms. Wiley's lesson focused on introducing concepts of computer programming, what developers do, algorithms, and coding indepently using Tynker. Students at Esperero Canyon Middle School also participated in a coding lesson. Students at all levels were engaged, excited, and eager to learn more!
We are excited for students and teachers to continue learning more about coding and all the ways this learning helps equip them with deep learning proficiencies.
