Marc Dubois, a teacher at Ecole secondaire L’Essor, looks over a Raspberry Pi.Marc Dubois, a teacher at Ecole secondaire L’Essor, looks over a Raspberry Pi during a computer science workshop on campus Wednesday.

Workshop leads teachers in exploration of computer science

When students at a Tecumseh high school enrol in a computer science course this year, they’ll have the University of Windsor to thank—at least in part.

Marc Dubois, a teacher at Ecole secondaire L’Essor, said attending last year’s CS4HS@UWindsor workshop inspired him to encourage students to sign up for a computer science course which had languished for lack of interest.

“We succeeded in opening a section for the coming school year,” he said Wednesday. Dubois was back on campus for the 2013 edition of the workshop, which promotes computer science education to teachers and provides them with teaching resources to enrich their skills and classroom lesson plans.

“There is a really interesting array of workshops that touch on so many aspects of the subject,” Dubois said. “I am looking forward to incorporating some of what I learn to revamp my course and meeting the curriculum.”

The workshop is sponsored by Google as an outreach project of the School of Computer Science, said director Ziad Kobti.

“It offers teachers some professional development and an opportunity to network with each other,” he said. “We hope they will continue to collaborate and exchange ideas.”

Sessions ranged on topics from robotics to algorithms to the Raspberry Pi, a computer about the size of a credit card. The teachers were so interested in the devices, Dr. Kobti gave each participant a kit to keep.

“This will enable them to experiment with it and sharpen their skills so they may hit the ground running in September when they possibly incorporate this device into their classrooms,” he said.

Carole Kobti, a teacher at St. Peter Elementary School, said she welcomed the learning opportunity.

“I have a computer science background, so anything scientific interests me,” she said. “It’s always good to learn new things!”

The workshop continues today in Lambton Tower.

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