A robot built by high school students from Île-à-la-Crosse (file photo/paNOW staff)

By Alison Sandstrom

Hi-tech

Saskatchewan schools offering robotics classes

Sep 6, 2019 | 5:19 PM

Knowledge of coding is becoming increasingly important in the 21st century job market, and the Saskatchewan government is trying to make sure students in the province are ready.

Courses in robotics and automation are now available in grades 7-12 across the province.

“Saskatchewan’s classrooms are meeting the needs of today’s students, by providing them with the hands-on, practical skill development found in these classes,” Education Minister Gordon Wyant said in a media release.

The new curriculum builds on robotics and coding training that many schools have already been embedding in regular classes.

Students in the Saskatchewan Rivers School District (SRSD) as young as kindergarten have been using robots in the classroom for years. Stacey Monette, a technology consultant with the local division, said “bee-bots” are popular with young learners.

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“They’re really cute, they’re these little bumble bee-looking things. Students learn just simple commands coding, so they click the little buttons and it goes forward, back, and they have to plan out routes for their little bees to go through,” she explained to paNOW.

She added that working with robots provides many opportunities for project-based learning, and the technology can be woven into classes on almost any topic including math, science and social studies.

Ron Fines, a technology coach with the school division, said students of all ages love learning about coding through robots. He often uses a “sumo-bot” challenge to introduce students to the topic.

“They take the code and they try to make their code better, and they build their robot to be the best robot in that ring, and then we have a little tournament,” he said.

Fines says learning about robotics and coding from a young age is vitally important, pointing to a projected hole in the labour market for IT jobs in the province in the coming years.

“It’s what we have to do to build Saskatchewan,” he said.

alison.sandstrom@jpbg.com

On Twitter: @alisandstrom