Metrics events make it fun to learn about computer science – The Winchester Star
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Partly cloudy this evening, then some snow showers after midnight. Low near 30F. Winds light and variable. Chance of snow 40%.
Updated: December 9, 2022 @ 8:49 pm
Moises Lopez (from left), 7, Easton Renner, 9, and Kensi Renner, 11, explore the world of virtual reality during Tuesday night’s Metrics event at Quarles Elementary School in Winchester. The evening included several activities to showcase how Winchester Public Schools teaches students about computer science.
Students on Tuesday night take aim at interactive targets displayed by a Lü projector onto a wall of the gymnasium at Quarles Elementary School in Winchester. The activity was part of a Metrics event to showcase the ways children are learning about computer science.
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Moises Lopez (from left), 7, Easton Renner, 9, and Kensi Renner, 11, explore the world of virtual reality during Tuesday night’s Metrics event at Quarles Elementary School in Winchester. The evening included several activities to showcase how Winchester Public Schools teaches students about computer science.
Students on Tuesday night take aim at interactive targets displayed by a Lü projector onto a wall of the gymnasium at Quarles Elementary School in Winchester. The activity was part of a Metrics event to showcase the ways children are learning about computer science.
WINCHESTER — Education has changed.
Gone are the days when a stodgy teacher would sit at a desk and read from a dry, boring textbook. Today, instructors use more interesting and dynamic means to fill developing brains with knowledge.
That was certainly evident this week when two Winchester elementary schools — Quarles on Tuesday night and John Kerr on Thursday night — invited parents to a special Metrics event to showcase how classroom instruction and real-world experiences are combining to help their children learn about computer science.
“We’re giving students the chance to learn about coding and computer science at a young age so when they go to middle school and high school, they can take courses to [further] pursue it,” said Pam Hoyle, computer science integration coach for Winchester Public Schools. “If they don’t know what computer science is, they might not take that opportunity.”
About 175 people came to Quarles Elementary School at 1310 S. Loudoun St. to participate in a variety of computer science-related activities throughout the building, starting with a robotics demonstration.
“The younger kids and older kids have an opportunity to create coding,” Hoyle said about the robotics station.
Another room contained Light Bright toys. Hoyle said students there were placing plastic pegs into an illuminated board to learn about algorithms.
“The kids are following directions to put the pegs in the correct order to create an image,” she said.
In the library, Winchester Book Gallery was holding a book fair while students in another part of the room strapped on goggles and became immersed in a virtual reality program.
The most popular destination at Quarles — aside from the cafeteria with its free pizza, of course — was the gymnasium, where a Lü projector displayed interactive images onto cinderblock walls. Children were given styrofoam balls and told to take aim at a variety of moving targets that contained the correct answers to questions regarding math, spelling and colors.
“The Lü projector is awesome,” Hoyle said as several students nailed their targets. “You can put anything on there for the kids to interact with and learn at the same time.”
The Ramos family of Winchester, including Pedro Ramos, 12, and Bryan and Jarely Ramos, both 10, said they had a blast at Quarles’s Metrics event.
“We had fun activities to do,” said Bryan, who particularly enjoyed visiting the gym and participating in a boys-versus-girls competition with the Lü projector.
Jennifer LaBombard-Daniels, a Metrics grant specialist with Winchester Public Schools, said she was very happy with how things went on Tuesday night, which was one of the first times Quarles has opened its doors to families since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020.
“It was way more people than we were expecting to come, and we’re just really excited to have families back in the schools where we can do this kind of thing,” LaBombard-Daniels said. “We were thrilled.”
— Contact Brian Brehm at bbrehm@winchesterstar.com
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