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City teachers go back to school

Teachers’ convention draws thousands to Edmonton
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BRIGHT IDEA – Paul Kane's Michael Ng was one of about eight St. Albert teachers who presented at the North Central Teachers' Convention last week in Edmonton. Ng spoke on how teachers could use flashy tricks, such as this one involving a match and hydrogen peroxide, to get students interested in science. CHRIS COLBOURNE/St. Albert Gazette

St. Albert teachers were sharing the secrets of science this week as part of an annual convention in Edmonton.

About 6,300 teachers from the greater Edmonton region were at the Edmonton Convention Centre Feb. 6 and 7 for the 2020 North Central Teachers’ Convention.

The Education Act requires all teachers to attend at least one convention authorized by the Alberta Teachers’ Association a year to build their skills, said Carryl Bennett, St. Albert teacher and president of the North Central Teachers’ Convention Association.

“We want to make sure we’re staying current,” she said, and that they can learn and share the best ideas from teaching.

While St. Albert students got two days off, city teachers were busy sharing and learning tips on topics such as yoga, sports, sex-ed, escape rooms and the zombie apocalypse. Many sessions dealt with Indigenous knowledge and culture.

About eight St. Albert teachers ran sessions at the convention, including Lorne Akins' Cynthia Dyer, who demonstrated how to make a fashionable poncho, W.D. Cuts' Andrew Wiens, who spoke on gay-straight alliances, and Sir George Simpson alumnus Pierre Rousseau, who addressed Pope Francis’ encyclical on the environment.

Science talkers

Paul Kane science wizard Michael Ng showed teachers how they could teach students about sound, density, chemistry and other concepts with magic-inspired science demonstrations. On tap this year were ways to conjure copious foam from fluids, turn glass into silvery mirrors, and use water and glasses to perform Ode to Joy.

Ng said he’s done about 15 lectures at various teachers’ conventions since 2012 and has yet to do the same trick twice. Years of developing new demonstrations for his own classes has given him a vast repertoire.

“I always just want to share it with everyone so they can make their classrooms wonderful as well,” Ng said.

Bev Facey Community High computing science teacher Michelle Langlois (who grew up in Villeneuve and attended Sturgeon Heights) spoke on how teaching students to hack computers can make them better problem-solvers.

“In the last couple of years, we’ve seen a huge number of cyber-security issues,” she said, and that means huge job opportunities for students. But there are also few trained network security experts in Canada, and even fewer formal courses on it.

Langlois said she has her students and cyber-security club members learn how to secure networks by hacking into or plugging security holes in virtual computer systems, which are typically simulated websites or computers. She calls it “capture the flag,” since the goal of each challenge is to get into each system and find a hidden flag, which can either be a graphic image or the word “flag” hidden in a line of code. Cracking each computer challenge requires teamwork, research, and problem-solving.

“It’s really a gamified way of doing cyber-security,” she said, referring to the practice of applying game principles to education.

Langlois said her students get regular lessons in computer science and ethics from herself and Edmonton-area computer security experts, and also sign agreements to not use their new skills maliciously. Many of her students spot and report security issues on their own school networks and enter hacking competitions in search of scholarships.

“Some of my kids are more experienced in this area than I am,” Langlois said.

Ng said hands-on science projects inspire curiosity in students and encourage them to investigate the real world.

“Kids, they want to observe these things; they don’t want to just take notes.”

St. Albert teachers and students head back to school Monday.


Kevin Ma

About the Author: Kevin Ma

Kevin Ma joined the St. Albert Gazette in 2006. He writes about Sturgeon County, education, the environment, agriculture, science and aboriginal affairs. He also contributes features, photographs and video.
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