Professional Learning Goals

• Introduced coding to our teaching staff and developed our understanding of coding and robotics
• Developed lessons around growth mindset, problem-solving and model in classroom
• Developed a deeper understanding of how to integrate technology in to the classroom in real, authentic ways to deepen student learning

Activities and Resources

• Teachers completed online learning (YouTube videos, Wonder Workshop website and resources) about using Dot and Dash
• Teachers spent part of a day of professional development to learn the Blockly app and practise coding, working collaborative to troubleshoot use of the technology
• Teachers developed a “Problem-Solving Attitude Survey” to use pre- and post-teaching to measure any difference in attitude after teaching/learning trajectory
• Teachers developed geometry lessons incorporating the motion geometry and positional geometry expectations from the curriculum and integrating Dot and Dash into the problem-solving component
• Each teacher was then to work through the sequence with their classes

Unexpected Challenges

We had planned to meet again to discuss what was working, as well as develop another lesson sequence to support the project. Our school district is unfortunately very short on supply teachers (only have one for our district) and as such, we were not permitted to schedule another meeting – which really impacted the commitment of all teachers to the project.

Enhancing Student Learning and Development

• Problem-solving skills are a key skill for all areas of learning so by using coding and the robots to help develop perseverance and resilience, student learning and development are enhanced
• Our data showed moderate gains in some areas of problem-solving, but I believe with more exposure and actual completion of the pre/post survey and learning in all classes our data would have shown more gains

Sharing

• We have shared our learning at our Student Showcase during Education Week. All teachers in our building were then exposed to the learning around coding and problem-solving.
• I have put together a PowerPoint presentation for sharing with our Instructional Leads and with our Technology Lead Teachers for sharing
• Our target audience is primary teachers and if they wanted we could even bring students for a demonstration

Project Evaluation

• Our project was a moderate success. One class was able to complete all aspects of the plan and the students enjoyed all the learning activities. All the teachers involved became far more versed in coding and integrating technology in a meaningful way into their math program and the opportunity to collaborate around new learning is always beneficial.
• Roadblocks in the way of availability of supply teachers and a maternity leave that interrupted our completion of the learning in one class, made our project less successful
• The transfer of skills from the coding and problem-solving to the math classroom was lost. During the problem-solving activities tied to the geometry curriculum and covered with use of the robots, the kids had no problem persevering and problem-solving independently, but they still experience less independence when not using the robots.
• Our survey was a good starting point to collect data and determine any growth in students, but more focus on the actual problem-solving process and growth mindset would be a benefit in the class