The Cure to "Worksheetitis" Teaches Kids Computer Science

Are your students suffering from Worksheetitis? Tired of learning their lessons through written work alone? Luckily, our elementary teachers learned the cure, and thanks to some help from Representative Terri Collins, they’ll be getting the tools to cure it in their classrooms soon.

The Technology Department of Decatur City Schools hosted Professional Development for all DCS elementary teachers last month. The gym at Oak Park Elementary School became an escape room, where all of the teachers worked through stations to collect items they would need to escape.

To complete each station, though, they had to learn some new things. At each one, they found a new tool or game related to coding, computer science, and technology. From simple tools like Coding Hopscotch that teaches sequencing, to Augmented Reality Cubes that let the user hold our Solar System in the palm of their hand to discover new facts about the planets, our teachers were able to see a wide variety of new ways to teach.

The best part of the whole experience? Representative Terri Collins greeted the teachers when they first arrived, and she had a very special announcement. In response to a grant written by Decatur City Schools Foundation, Representative Collins was able to secure $27,000 to furnish those tools for each of our elementary schools!

Emily Elam, Supervisor of Technology for Decatur City Schools, explained, “The original plan was that we might be able to buy one kit with all of these tools in it for the district. Schools would have to check out the kit, and all of the teachers at all of our elementary schools would have to try and share this one set of tools. With this funding, we’re going to be able to buy a kit for each school, making it so much more accessible to each of our classrooms.” 

(L-R: Jesslyn Reeves, Decatur City Schools Foundation; Dr. Michael Douglas, Superintendent; Representative Terri Collins; and Emily Elam, Supervisor of Technology) 

Representative Collins is happy she was able to help make that happen. She says, “I’m very pleased to support STEM education and Computer Science for Pre K through 12^th Grade in Decatur City Schools. I enjoyed getting to watch the teachers train to use the tools they’ll be able to have in their classrooms.”

(Dr. Douglas observing the training with DCS Teachers)

It’s easy to think of computer science as an advanced subject to study, but in reality, young children can learn all sorts of programming concepts like sequencing and conditional statements that prepare them to program later in life. We’re excited to see the lifelong impact these Coding and Computer Science Kits have on our elementary school students!