Gorham Middle School’s (GMS) technology integrator, Terri Dawson, and Gorham High School (GHS) and GMS’ STEM teacher, Terry Bartick, hosted Gorham’s first Code Day on December 6 at GMS to promote National Computer Science Month in Schools.
The early release STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) activities were geared toward students in grades 4-9. Over a hundred students participated in this inaugural event.
“Our Code Day event is making a statement that Gorham is teaching these foundational 21st century skills and will continue to bring program- ming activities to our students,” said Dawson. “We wanted to make our event huge so we included students in grades 4-9 and their parents.”
Photo credit Terri DawsonStudents in grades 4-9 and their parents recently had the opportunity to participate in activities that promote STEM at the inaugural Code Day event at GMS.
Buses picked up students at all of the elementary schools and brought them to GMS for a fun afternoon of creative coding activities. Parents were encouraged to attend the event alongside their child to learn some new skills while having fun together.
When students arrived from the elementary schools, they were escorted to the auditorium for a 30-minute “Welcome and Digital Citizenship Presentation,” given by Dawson. Students then rotated around to different sessions throughout the afternoon and participated in activities such as 3D Printing, Edison Robots, CoSpaces/ VR, Digital Breakouts, Code.org, and Scratch.
The instructors offering their time for this event were: Michael McCarthy, Diane Knott, Sam Orlando, Joanne Gauley, Bartick, and Dawson. Planning has already begun to make next year’s event even bigger.