Youth Education
CanCode Communities has partnered with districts in New York State’s Capital Region, reaching more than one hundred K-12 educators in 2017. In workshops on the relevance and accessibility of code literacy and CS learning, we have trained Superintendents, Principals, Guidance Counselors, Instructional Technologists, Library-Media Specialists, Teachers and TA’s to feel confident in using coding in their classrooms and buildings.
With PD for elementary school teachers, including lesson plans an in-class support from young education majors at local universities, we have launched Scratch coding projects that fit into the curricular day for 2nd-5th grade classes in ELA, Science, Art, and Music. We are currently developing Python coding activities for 6th-7th grade classes. The design and implementation of each activity ensures links to State Ed and ISTE standards, takes cues from CS For All and CSTA scaffolding, yet meets teachers and students where they are. As we see it, the goal isn’t to let kids do a little coding.
The goals of our K-12 programs are:
- build capacity for coding education in our public schools;
- invite all our young people to look into being a maker – not only a user – of software;
- change mindset about the relevance of coding skills, and about who can work in technology;
- open pathways for students, their teachers and families, to a future of coding literacy and software expertise.
