Two years ago, Kara Fidelack had a sizeable group of 30 students in her Grade 1 class and confronted a nearly impossible task: cover a wide-ranging curriculum in a way that accommodates children’s different learning styles.
Play-based learning and the earlier introduction of science, technology, engineering and mathematics concepts, as well as computational learning, could help close the gender divide that studies have found starts to form around Grade 5, when boys gain a slight advantage in those areas. Programming and resource allocation, including STEM initiatives, fall under the mandate of school divisions in Saskatchewan. The provincial government plays a direct role through partnerships with organizations like Let’s Talk Science, providing its server network for the organization to broadcast its LIVE STEM teachers workshops and lessons for students.
To date, SaskCode has provided innovation-based STEM learning kits and workshops to 25 out of 27 school divisions in the province.The increasing use of technology in agriculture, including drones and various forms of artificial intelligence, calls for earlier and better understanding of such technologies, Shaw noted.