Laurier student teachers developing curriculum and tools for STEM classes across Canada

K8, a robot designed to look line a lunar rover, is being used in STEM classes. (Daryl Morris/CTV Kitchener) (Mar. 19, 2022)

Student teachers at Wilfrid Laurier University are developing a new curriculum for students across Canada.

The program will teach STEM subjects - science, technology, engineering and math - in the context of a “Mission to the Moon.”

The university’s Faculty of Education is partnering with Waterloo ed-tech company Inksmith to design and implement the curriculum. It’s being done through a grant from the Canadian Space Agency.

“They put out a call for proposals,” said Michelle Valets, Senior Manager of Strategic Partnerships & Sales for Inksmith. “Essentially they want space STEM to be promoted throughout Canada, so we answered the call in partnership with Laurier.”

“[Inksmith] helped us with a course on design-thinking and digital fluency - including coding and 3D printing several years ago,"said Julie Mueller with Wilfrid Laurier University’s Faculty of Education. "That partnership worked out very well.

“They have the expertise and the technology to go with our instructional strategies and our pedagogy and the expertise around implementing that.”

The partnership has already produced a tool that’s being used in classrooms right now.

K8 is a robot designed to look like a lunar rover. Students learn code to program how K8 moves and turns, just like astronauts code the lunar rover remotely.

“We’ve heard a lot of great things about it," said Valtas. "We’ve heard it’s fun and engaging. We’ve seen videos of students just lighting up.”

“You program the microbit and that acts as the brain of the robot. And then you program it to drive forward, you can use a remote control, you can program the motors, so you’re programming it to turn, so you can create a maze if you wanted to and code your robot to know how to go through that maze automatically.”

K8 - pronounced “Kate” - was also designed with inclusivity in mind. Valtas says it was students in Laurier’s education program that helped them with the finer points.

“With the K8 robot they actually helped us to look at it from a unique perspective, a perspective that really involves girls," said Valtas. "It’s named K8 because it’s best suited for K to 8 (grades) but also when you say ‘K8’ it could be a girl’s name. Also purple [is] gender neutral. So they really helped us design little things in it that would be really encouraging for girls.”

Those teacher candidates will be involved in the next phase as well.

“Our teacher candidates who are student teachers will be helping to develop the curriculum and will be helping to implement it into the schools with their associate teachers and their students,” said Mueller.

The curriculum for students in Grades Six to Nine will include six modules and be lunar-themed and specific to space.

The CSA grant will make it available for up to 290,000 students at no cost, for a three year period.

The project is slated to be ready by March 2024.