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Coding Quest summer program

Summer School meets STEAM! Over 110 students gathered at David and Mary Thomson Collegiate Institute in Toronto, this July, to learn new skills, connect with friends, and partake in the first Coding Quest summer program. Over the course of three weeks, students worked collaboratively, becoming innovative designers and creative problem solvers in their quest to develop their own working videogames.

This impressive feat did not come without well-rewarded work. Students learned to use Scratch, a block-based programming language that allows for the creation of personalized projects, introducing students to computational thinking and the principles of coding, a skill increasingly in demand by employers.

Coding Quest is a hands-on program that is traditionally offered in classrooms throughout the regular school year. The program follows a flexible framework that embraces teachers’ own preferences and levels of expertise, seamlessly connecting to a wide range of subject areas, from science and technology to visual arts and social studies, all while students learn valuable coding skills and global competencies. In true entrepreneurial fashion, students practice their creative writing and presentation skills, accompanying their videogames with a “30-Second Elevator Pitch” and marketing materials relevant to the digital age.

This summer program was facilitated through a partnership with the Toronto District School Board.

Coding Quest is made possible with support of the Government of Canada, Salesforce.org and many other generous partners. Coding Quest uses Scratch, a program developed by the Lifelong Kindergarten Group at the MIT Media Lab available for free at https://scratch.mit.edu.

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