Coding in the classroom at Lansdowne-Costain PS

Caption: Students use tablets during a coding activity

The school-based EdTech project this year at Lansdowne-Costain Public School focused on a fun, approachable way to increase student engagement in math, and it's helping them think creatively and solve problems at the same time.

By bringing coding and robotics into the clarssroom, lessons have real-world applications to the ever-growing technology sector as students learn the 21st-century language of code. At Lansdowne-Costain PS, coding has leadership lessons, too.

"The Grade 3 class piloted the robots and learned how to code so that they could be coaches in the other primary classrooms," explained Lansdown-Costain PS Principal Deb Skoretz. "Our teachers are also lifelong learners -- they participated in professional development to increase their own knowledge of these skills."

Student projects have included coding buddies, mapping the school, a 3-D geometry city, and a neighbourhood map of the community.

Students will be showcasing their hard work at Grandparents Day during Education Week. Plans are already underway for a school-wide STEM program for 2017-2018.