Teachers Become First-Time Coders in Florida

At Because Learning, we believe ongoing educator professional development is an essential key to student success.

Santa Rosa County Public Schools, in Florida, have been using our Sensor Kits for more than 3 years. But the constant arrival of new teachers makes a great opportunity for continued professional development and first-time coding lessons.

To achieve this, we held a day-long professional development workshop where we taught beginner coding skills. Using our Arduino-based Sensor Kits, we challenged teachers to follow the instructions in “Light Show”, one of our most popular Lessons. (You can preview the lesson – including the Lesson Guide – by clicking here.)

Teachers were tasked with making a single light blink. Then they had to take what they learned further and make multiple lights blink.

The result? Teaching coding to kids feels a lot less intimidating, even for teachers who were first-time coders.

Watch the video and see for yourself:

Enthusiasm Throughout the Classroom

From our experience bringing coding to classrooms around the world, we’ve seen how powerful these activities are for both teachers and students.

Educators who continuously develop new skills – like coding – feel more confident in their ability to teach standards-based STEM skills to their students.

Learning something new feels empowering.

It brings teachers together.

And it has a trickle-down effect to students, who feel the infectious enthusiasm of their teachers.

Want to bring these experiences to your school? Preview the Arduino “Light Show” lesson for yourself. Then learn more about bringing our Sensor Kit and Lessons Platform to your school.