2023 Plans for CS Integration
2023 Plans
As we approach Spring I wanted to share some of our plans for the remainder of this series of Coding integration classroom supports for teachers and students. On March 9th we held our 6th webinar in the series and we plan to deliver a total of 10 webinars and companion resources before the end of the 2022/23 school year.
Coding integration in destreamed Grade 9 Math (MTH1W) was the initial focus of our initiative. Soon after the Ministry of Education also added coding exceptations in the Grade 9 Science (SNC1W). Our focus has also been to provide a consistent platform and programming language for our resources. Learning the fundamentals of any programming language is challenging and hopefully we are able to provide a gentle introduction to Python throughout our resources. The use of Python notebooks using Google Colab or Callysto is our preference due to its unique ability to combine code with text that can be used to elaborate on the investigation or summarize the results of computational experiments. We have been using Micro:bits as a physical computing tool to aid in the exploration of Grade 9 Science topics. Our next Science webinar will be on April 6th. The science resources are not using Python notebooks, but we are using the excellent updated Micro:bit online Python editor.
As a Math or Computer Science teacher we understand that using code in the classroom is new and consider using and modifying code alongside your students using our resources or others. Expecting students to write code from scratch is a tall order and not necessary to benefit from using code within the overall course expectations.
Generative artificial intelligence tools such as ChatGPT are definitely going to impact how students and teachers explore topics including computer science, math, and science. These tools will not replace the role of teachers in the classroom as the generated code or text must still be verified and validated. Coding integration into Math and Science should always be focused on the discipline under investigation as code is to be used as a tool to aid in investigations. Coding can be used alongside traditional classroom tasks or it can be used to demonstrate its ability to actually make new discoveries or insights within the discipline. Code can also be used to demonstrate its ability to scale and work with larger datasets. This ability to analyse larger datasets is at the heart of the recent advances in artificial intelligence, more specifically machine learning through the use of Large Language Models (LLMs).
If you are a Computer Science teacher explore our series on Data Science and also share the Math and Science resources with teachers at your school or school board.
We are hoping that our resources and webinars are able to fit into your classroom in such a way to engage students. We look forward to providing additional resources throughout the remainder of the school year.
Grant Hutchison