Mindful Ed

This past weekend I had the opportunity to attend the Math + Coding Symposium at Western University. It was a three day event filled with lively discussions, opportunities to 'make' and play, as well as keynotes by expert in the field. These experts included  Celia Hoyles , Richard Noss , and Yasmin B. Kafai . For more information on the outline of the symposium as well as detailed descriptions of the keynote addresses please click on the link:   http://researchideas.ca/coding/ Throughout the weekend, three main themes emerged for me: - Coding as Literacy - Computational Thinking and Mathematical Processes - Energizing and Supporting the Grassroots Movements in Ontario CODING AS LITERACY In her keynote address, Dr. Yasmin Kafai discussed how understanding code relates to our abilities to contribute and connect in today's society on functional, political, and personal levels. In this way, viewing coding as an essential literacy skill in order to interact mean...

After our initial positive experiences using Hangouts to ask about different communities ( see previous post ), I wanted to take Hangouts to the next level. I noticed the students' heightened engagement and shared responsibility for asking purposeful questions and providing thoughtful responses ... how could I bring student creation into the mix? Enter - ANIMALS! I connected with a wonderful teacher from Alberta (through Google Hangouts in Education G+ Community) who was open to the idea of our Grade 2 classes preparing presentations about animals from our respective communities and sharing this with each other over Hangouts. This was a perfect connection to our current curricular inquiries about animals and would provide a real audience of inquisitive learners. First we brainstormed animals from our community and students selected teams based on animals of interest. Students used Pebble Go and Britannica from our D2L links as well as the Google research tool to conduct ...