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Educators gather in Kelowna to prep for new coding curriculum

Click to play video: 'B.C. teachers get ready for mandatory coding classes'
B.C. teachers get ready for mandatory coding classes
B.C. teachers get ready for mandatory coding classes – Jan 24, 2017

We use them every day, but very few of us who know how to write computer code. That’s why the provincial government will soon make coding classes mandatory for B.C. students. This week educators from all over the province are in Kelowna preparing for the change.

Starting in 2018, B.C. students will have to take a course that deals with computer programming at some point between grade six and grade nine. Which grade kids take the coding module in is being left up to school districts.

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“Coding is a core part of competencies that children need to succeed in the future,” said Liberal MLA for Kelowna-Mission Steve Thomson.

In some cases coding classes mean the curriculum is catching up with the students themselves who are already interested in the topic.

“I have some students in my class and in my [previous] classes who built video games through coding. They are the type of students that would not be able to sit down and do more of a traditional style of learning. They are able to hit all of the outcomes in the curriculum just by doing these things and it is something that they enjoy,” said grade six teacher Adam MacDonald.
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The two day workshop being offered at UBCO is part of the province’s $6-million plan to implement a new B.C. curriculum.

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