By Bill Husfelt, Superintendent, Bay District Schools
Now that we’ve welcomed students back to school, it’s time to begin highlighting some of the amazing programs we have going on throughout Bay District Schools.
I’d like to start by taking a look at “Woz Ed,” the Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) education program designed by Steve Wozniak, one of the co-founders of Apple Computers.
This unique curriculum is designed to teach students the “soft” skills they need to be lifelong learners and collaborators (like problem solving and critical thinking) while leaving them with some very real, and marketable, skill sets like coding, creating artificial intelligence and flying drones.
While Woz Ed offers a multitude of programs at a variety of levels, we’ve chosen to focus our professional development on elementary grades at first so we can appropriately support the teachers who are undertaking this new project. So, this school year, we’re rolling out coding, drone aeronautics, cyber security and artificial intelligence in grades kindergarten through fifth at the area elementary schools that were willing to be our pilots for this new curriculum.
On the beach, this program will debut at Hutchison Beach Elementary School this year and we can’t wait to see what our Dolphins create!Their Woz Ed teachers have been equipped with 3-D printers, drones, block and text coding tools, robots and cyber security simulations. According to the Woz Ed program, their curriculum “is a convergence of the worlds of education and work. Our programs are aligned with the emerging global economy – rich with technology, driven by industry demands and infused with entrepreneurial spirit.”
While every student will benefit, it’s of particular interest to me that coding, engineering and other similar courses are truly open to all. As the Woz Ed brochure notes, “you don’t have to be good at English to be good at coding.”
We’re also rolling out a new heavy machinery Career and Technical Education component to our Construction Technology Academy at J.R. Arnold High School this year. So now students have yet one more program from which to choose (construction, engineering and drone flying are all very popular) and even more options for hands-on education that can both take them places right out of high school and, in many cases, translate into college credits if that’s their chosen path.
It’s exciting to do our part to enhance diversity in these career fields and to show our students some of their options for further study after high school. I, for one, cannot wait to see our second graders learn to fly drones and I’m excited about how that technology may entice them to learn more about science, technology, engineering and math. There’s no telling the dividends that may result from us piquing the interest of these students early on with technology-related skills and careers.
Equipping our students with the academic and soft skills they need to achieve their dreams is our mission and it’s thrilling to see another program coming to fruition that will help excite students about school and about furthering their education in the technical fields.
