Nova Scotia
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CITY
Halifax
DATE
November 17th, 2018
VENUE
Dalhousie University, Collaborative Health Education Building, Room 150,
5793 University Avenue, Halifax, NS, B3H 4R2
CITY
Dartmouth(Fr)
DATE
December 1st, 2018
VENUE
Région centrale, Unité 7,
250 avene Brownlow, Dartmouth(Fr), NS, B3B 1W9
Instructors

Don Burks
Head Instructor at Lighthouse Labs
Don brings over 18 years of experience in software development and passion for mentorship and education. His notable experience is in teaching code and computational thinking to a broad range of audiences from coding newbies to professional software developers.

Juliet Waters
Senior Education Director
Juliet brings twenty years of journalism and communications experience to her passion for promoting and increasing digital literacy across generations. She has written about her own experience with learning to code for The New York Times and has created tutorials and lesson plans for Kids CBC, KCJ’s Hour of Code and NSERC’s Science Odyssey events.

Bernat Ferragut
Instructor
Bernat has an MSc from the University of Newscastle and has worked for over 12 years in the VFX and Web industry fields, for companies such as National Geographic, Amazing Planet, Smithsonian Institute, IMAX3D. His main focuses are in good design, internet communication, computational thinking, and of course, teaching.

Erika Kehler
Instructor
Erika connects her experience in programming and design with her sense of community and passion for building digital skills. As an instructor, Erika develops and delivers coding courses in schools and community centres, exploring topics in digital storytelling, game design, programming, and robotics, as well as instructing at teacher training workshops for Pro-D days and conferences.
Schedule
9:00am - 10:00am

Welcome and Unplugged Activity
9:00am - 10:00am
It’s the time to make new friends, enjoy breakfast and complete our ping pong rescue challenge.
10:00am - 10:30am

Introduction to Computational Thinking
10:00am - 10:30am
In this session, we will discuss the definition of computational thinking and how it exists in everyday life.
10:30am - 10:45pm

Coffee Break
10:30am - 10:45pm
Time to fuel up on both teachers’ and coders’ favourite drink
10:45am - 12:30pm

Fundamental Coding Concepts with Scratch
10:45am - 12:30pm
In this session, we will explore fundamental coding concepts using the popular visual programming platform, Scratch.
12:30pm - 1:30pm

Lunch
12:30pm - 1:30pm
Time to take a break and feast. Thanks to the fantastic CanCode program, hot lunch is on us!
1:30pm - 2:30pm

Micro:Bit Workshop
1:30pm - 2:30pm
micro:bit is a tiny programmable computer, designed to make learning and teaching easy and fun! We will explore this tool with a hands-on project.
2:30pm - 2:45pm

Coffee Break
2:30pm - 2:45pm
Avoid the afternoon lull by fueling up with some java (the liquid, not the programming language!)
2:45pm - 3:30pm

Introduction to Text-Based Coding
2:45pm - 3:30pm
In these sessions we will introduce text-based coding using the popular language Javascript. We will apply the learnings to the interactive storytelling tool Twine.
3:30pm - 3:45pm

Reflections & Closing
3:30pm - 3:45pm
The last part of the day will be for sharing. You will share your major takeaways, and we will share our favourite resources.
3:45pm - 4:45pm

Optional Advanced Topics
3:45pm - 4:45pm
This is where you get to play with some more advanced tools and see some practical implementations of the visual and text-based programming learned earlier in the day.
The Format
These workshops will combine unplugged activities that develop computational thinking and fun hands-on coding activities that will introduce teachers to rudimentary concepts in programming. Very accessible to beginners, they will also provide plenty of opportunity to go farther for more advanced participants. Each session will include lesson plans, and a curated list of proven turnkey resources. Participants will also leave with classroom materials, including a free classroom set of micro:bits and an intergenerational introduction to programming called Vibot the Robot.