Foundation reports

School District No.43 Coquitlam

In the Metro Vancouver federation of British Columbia, one school district chose to roll out the micro:bit because of its ‘low floor, no ceiling’ for students and educators.

It is one of only a few tools that School District No.43 (SD43) in Coquitlam has selected to be an integral part of its "K-9 Coding Continuum", which is a curricular intervention to equip learners with essential 21st century skills and access to digital technologies. Crucial to the success of this approach is the provision of resources and learning support for schools and teachers.

Lessons and pedagogy

"Exploration teachers" receive specialist training for micro:bit through hands-on workshops and professional development sessions.

These specialist teachers then support the integration of the micro:bit device into subject teaching in maths, English and science by helping to train core subject teachers. They also work across drama and art to help build confidence and integration of the core concepts into creative subjects.

All schools – primary, middle and secondary - in Coquitlam now have class sets of the micro:bit for students to use collaboratively, while teacher training focuses on transversal skills and embedding computational thinking into teaching into subjects including maths, science and English.

Training and support

For teachers, after-school support is provided across the district as a 3-part series micro:bit of workshops, with team teaching & additional coaching available on request.

An online "pedagogical help desk" is also available to teachers with various categories of support with teaching, lesson preparation and digital skills development.

Over 1,000 teachers across 70 schools, in primary, middle and secondary receive training and support for using the micro:bit in class teaching and cross-subject capacities, with additional after-school support provided across the district as a 3-part series of micro:bit workshops.

Impact and results

• Students in grades 6, 7, 8 (age 10-14) began working with micro:bit in 2017, with training for teachers at secondary & high school underway in 2019-20
• micro:bits are now in use daily throughout the entire school district with a full immersion experience across subjects
• 32,000 students across the district will experience micro:bit through the new K-9 curriculum & "Coding Continuum"