Not long ago, the Computing Science department at Trinity Western University discovered an unmet market need.
High school students and younger, school-aged children seem to lack the opportunities to learn about robotics and computing science. For some youth, their schools may not have the resources to teach highly-technological subjects, and as a result, classes like computing science are not offered at their schools. These youth may be attending smaller, private schools or be homeschooled.
At TWU, the Computing Science department’s advisory council – consisting of faculty, alumni, and local business leaders in the tech industry – recognized an opportunity to serve this unmet need.
They wondered, what if it were possible to make computing sciences accessible among local students at younger grade levels?
The idea was to offer a computing science class that appealed to high school students, for which participants could earn both high school credit and TWU undergraduate credit – a dual-credit benefit that helps students complete high school academic requirements and provides them a jump-start into their university journey.
In 2018, through Trinity Western University’s connection with Mennonite Educational Institute (MEI) in Abbotsford, BC, TWU professors began to engage in discussions with MEI educators. With the added enthusiasm of MEI teachers and administrators, the project gained momentum.
By Fall 2019, the collaboration between TWU and MEI produced a fully developed computing science course tailored for high school students. This past Spring 2020 semester, the course CMPT113 Computational Thinking and Information Systems was successfully delivered.
Twelve eager and talented high school students enrolled in and completed the inaugural CMPT113 Computational Thinking and Information Systems dual-credit course.
According to Dr. Herbert Tsang, Professor of Computing Science and Mathematics at TWU, the course was run like a regular TWU course, with the addition of local high school teachers for support. Classes met once a week to cover assigned topics. Additionally, course materials were accessible online. In essence, it was a hybrid course, with both online and face-to-face components.
For the final project, students were required to use their newly-acquired programming skills to create a game that was based on a chosen theme from the book of Genesis. Game themes chosen by students included the Tower of Babel and the life of Abraham.
As for the most popular, winning theme? It was Noah’s Ark.
Reflecting on the Spring 2020 inaugural course, Dr. Tsang says, “We are very happy that the students successfully finished their projects.”
Course completion was no ordinary feat, as the class was interrupted by challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic.
In March, during the middle of the course, TWU decided that all teaching had to move online, in consideration of campus health and safety. Despite many unknowns, Dr. Tsang shares, “We decided to keep going.”
Originally, Dr. Tsang had planned to invite the high school students to TWU’s campus to present their final projects. Instead, however, final projects were presented online. Yet, this sudden change did not seem to diminish students’ enthusiasm for computing technology.
When Dr. Tsang surveyed his students during the last class on, “What’s your plan?” several students replied that they would like to continue studying computing sciences in the future.
The ability to inspire younger students to pursue computing science and technological fields may be the greatest, long-lasting achievement of this course.
Luckily, TWU’s ability to inspire younger generations for computing science has not been limited to this course alone. Dr. Tsang has been hosting a series of computing-related workshops for people of all ages, called ReBoot Camp.
The ReBoot Camp, and its series of Robotics 101 coding workshops for students in grades six to nine, have proved to be very popular.
The most recent ReBoot Camp event, featuring Robotics 101, took place on Saturday, February 8, 2020, within TWU’s computing science labs – and, it was a special coding camp catering to girls in grades six to nine.
“It was noisy. But it was fun,” Dr. Tsang recalls. Regarding the classroom atmosphere, he shares, “I don’t know how, but instantly, they all become friends.”
Dr. Tsang had plans to run two more ReBoot Camp events in Richmond this March, in partnership with local churches in the community. Registration for those coding camps filled quickly; however, the events have now been postponed in light of COVID-19 concerns.
Yet, the spirit of innovation doesn’t go away easily. We are looking forward to news of future ReBoot Camps that will make coding accessible to younger students and enthusiasts alike.
________
For more information on Trinity Western University’s Computing Science programs, please visit TWU’s Computing Science webpage.
For information on upcoming ReBoot Camp and Robotics 101 events, please contact Dr. Herbert Tsang, Herbert.Tsang@twu.ca.
Trinity Western University is Canada’s leading global Christian liberal arts university committed to inspiring hearts and minds.
For media inquiries, please contact media@twu.ca.