Curriculum goes high-tech with Classes in robotics, coding
Elementary and high school students in Saskatchewan will soon be able to add some new tech skills to their arsenal.
Saskatoon University MLA Eric Olauson announced Friday that robotics and coding courses will be added to the provincial curriculum.
“These elective courses will be available to all Saskatchewan Grades 7-12 students in the area of practical and applied arts,” Olauson said. “Since it plays such a large role in modern life, it’s important that our children know how to operate technology now and into the future.”
At present, locally developed coding and robotics courses are only offered to Grades 11 and 12 students at certain high schools in Saskatchewan.
They will act as a guide in developing the new courses the Ministry of Education plans to pilot during the next school year before fully implementing them across the province by the 2019-20 school year.
Rob Heppner, principal at the Constable Robin Cameron Education Complex on the Beardy’s First Nation, helped develop the curriculum as part of the Practical and Applied Arts Reference Committee. He said he couldn’t be more excited about the new courses and the engagement that hands-on learning brings to the classroom — especially after seeing his son’s excitement after joining a coding club.
“Coding club comes around and that night he meets me at the door when I walk in. He’s like, ‘Dad come see this, come see what I did,’ and he’s doing these cool things, and this is stuff that’s relevant, that’s going to be part of today’s industry and tomorrow’s industry,” Heppner said.
“This is stuff they need to learn. It makes learning fun, it engages them — this is awesome.”
The new additions to the curriculum came from a recommendation by the Practical and Applied Arts Reference Committee made up of subject-specific experts to provide direction on curriculum renewal and what hands-on courses would ultimately benefit students in their future career paths.