How do you assess project-based learning? John Partridge explains how he has approached this issue.Assessing project-based learning in Computing
How do you assess project-based learning? John Partridge explains how he has approached this issue.How do you assess project-based learning? John Partridge explains how he has approached this issue.The Computing Curriculum: Suffolk's Interpretation
Kathryn Day describes how she and her colleagues have approached the teaching of the Computing Programme of Study in Suffolk, England.Digital Education “Interim” Edition Out Now!
I’ve just published an ‘interim’ edition of Digital Education, the free newsletter for people with a professional interest in educational ICT and Computing. Here’s what it contains:
Read MoreIdeas for the computing curriculum: #3 Be self-referential
In this series I’m going to be making some suggestions, putting out some ideas. These are based on presentations I’ve given. I can think of how these ideas, or their implications, might be applied in the classroom. However, I think it better if I stand back and let you do that part of the work!
I know that this is counterintuitive, but what if you devised an activity to teach programming or computational thinking, but instead of of just telling the kids what to do, you make them solve a problem first – by applying computational thinking or some elementary programming?
Ideas for the computing curriculum: #0 What box?
In this series I’m going to be making some suggestions, putting out some ideas. These are based on presentations I’ve given. I can think of how these ideas, or their implications, might be applied in the classroom. However, I think it better if I stand back and let you do that part of the work!
One of the most depressing things for me is the degree of conformity I come across.
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8 reasons that worksheets work for Computing
The use of worksheets is often derided. You hear expressions like “death by a thousand worksheets”, and even a Government Education minister (now ex-Minister for Education) has weighed in, saying that teachers should use textbooks instead of worksheets [1].
Leaving aside the observation that how teachers teach is, in my opinion, none of the Government’s business – it’s the equivalent of telling doctors to use electronic blood pressure monitors rather than the manual kind – there are perfectly compelling reasons to use worksheets in the Computing classroom.
Quick look: Literacy from Scratch
If you’re concerned that young children won’t be able to grasp computing concepts, or are worried about how you’re going to teach it, have a look around the Literacy from Scratch website.
Managed – and, I think, written by – Lawrence Williams, the website contains examples of pupils’ work in Scratch, cross-curricular ideas and examples, and notes on pedagogy.
Review of Espresso Coding
This application is designed to teach Computing at Key Stages 1 and 2 (a more sophisticated version for older pupils is being worked on).
What struck me immediately on using it is the amount of guidance available, both in verbal form and videos. There is quite a large range of modules to choose from, including “Starter” ones which take you through the basics and, where appropriate, recapitulate what has already been learnt.
Review of Code Academy
Code Academy is an online tutorial-based website for teaching yourself how to code. You can select which programming language you wish to learn, from the following listReview of J2Code
As usual, I gave this application a workout without seeking help from a manual or anything like that – which is just as well because there does not seem to be a comprehensive manual.
There are three applications in one: JIT5, LOGO and Visual. This is quite useful because if you are familiar with LOGO but not JavaScript, you can start pupils coding in an environment that is familiar to you. Also, if you teach very young children, JIT5 is highly visual and colourful.
An advantage of J2Code as a whole over 2Code is that it covers the age range from Key Stage 1 (5-6 year olds) to Key Stage 3 (13-14 year olds).
The usefulness of technology in education
Strangely enough, the most popular blog post on this website is 13 reasons to use educational technology in lessons. Why strange? Because I wrote it over three years ago. I re-read it recently, and (thank goodness!) I still agree with what I wrote all that time ago. I’d like to add more to it, but rather than do that I thought I would contribute to Mark Anderson’s series on this subject.Review of 2Code
2Simple’s answer to the question “How can we teach coding to little ones?” is 2Code. The first thing that greets you when you go to the 2Code section of Purple Mash is the plethora of files to open.Project-based learning in the Computing curriculum
John Partridge, Assistant Head for eLearning, explains how Computing is taught through a project-based learning approach at his school.
I remember clearly looking at the first draft of the new curriculum and just being totally shocked by the degree of change. It had been clearly signalled that the new draft would be a step-change, but I didn’t appreciate the shift which was about to take place. Almost nothing remained from the previous programme, save a few references to digital resources and, in a later draft, safe use of technology. So it was clear that some serious work was going to be needed to make sure our school adapted.
Preparing to teach the new Computing curriculum
I've been giving talks on preparing for the new Computing curriculum, and as well as waxing lyrical that also involves listening to others' concerns. It also means hearing about some innovative approaches that colleagues have adopted.
At the same time, I have been conducting a survey of what people have been doing to prepare for the new curriculum. I'll be publishing the results in due course. In fact, some of the resources mentioned in the collection of coding resources in the early July 2014 edition of Digital Education came to my attention from that survey.
So, given that at the time of writing there's about 2 or 3 days to go till the end of term, what can you realistically do at this stage to prepare for September?
Digital Education latest edition!
For the final edition of this free newsletter, we have a great line-up of experts and articles:
Read MoreShould we welcome the nanocams?
I’m reading a short story by Ian Creasey called “The Edge of the Map”. In the world depicted by Creasey, automated cameras called “nanocams” take photos and newspapers (and other media, presumably) source their illustrations from the pool created by them. In other words, there is no need for specialist photographers.
This raises a number of interesting questions.
Awarding Levels in Computing for the purpose of number-crunching
It’s all very well coming up with weird and wonderful ways of acknowledging students’ achievement, but at some point somebody, unfortunately, is going to ask you for a number. The number is important to them because they can enter it into spreadsheet and show, hopefully, that the numbers go up over time.
Read MoreA is for Assessing Computing: 16 criteria and 5 considerations
A student writes a program. What are you going to assess it on? There are at least 16 criteria you could take into account. Not all of these will be apposite – it depends on what you’re teaching and who you’re teaching. Also, I’ve framed the list below in teacher language; it’s up to you to adapt it into language that is more appropriate for your students.
Read MoreThe 6 Fundamental Computing Assessment Scheme Questions
Whether you decide to create your own assessment scheme from a blank sheet of paper, so to speak, use a ready-made scheme created by someone else, or do a bit of both, there are 6 questions you need to ask:
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