Computing within Primary Schools has become a high-quality and engaging cross-curricular subject that equips children to use creative thinking within their learning to understand and change the world around them (DfE, 2013). To engage and enrich children’s learning further, Turvey et al (2015) suggests that children’s capacity for computational thinking can be developed within meaningful contexts, for example; using real-world scenarios to understand coding. I was inspired by this piece of ideology and therefore based my computing lesson around engaging children to think of computing in different ways which were outside the stereotype that ‘computing has to be solely based on technology’
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For my lesson I followed the plan of “My Robotic Friends” (Thinkersmith, 2013) which used a predefined ‘Robot Vocabulary’ that children followed to accomplish a cup stacking task whilst, also progressing their learning in the valuable skill of understanding coding through instructions and how to identify errors through self-assessment. I was allocated forty-five minutes for this lesson which included a full class of 29 pupils in which I divided into groups of three and four.
During the computing lesson pupils responded well in regards with meeting the learning objective. Children were presented with problem solving tasks by creating an algorithm for their chosen ‘robot’ within their group who then had to decode algorithms using only the instructions the ‘programmers’ made. Children had to use their creative train of thought, thinking logically about each instruction they made into their programme and through trial were presented with errors which taught the children the skill of ‘debugging’ in which they could stop their programme and correct the error before the ‘robot’ could continue. Upon reflection I believe by using real-life objects such as the cups allowed the children to adapt their learning skills through different methods and teaching strategies. Turvey at al (2015) builds on the strong emphasis that computational thinking not only has to involve computers but to challenge our pupils with reflecting on algorithms in day-to-day activities which the class met throughout this lesson. The National Curriculum (2013) content for key stage 2 supports this by stating that children must use logical reasoning to explain how algorithms work and be able to detect and correct errors in algorithms and programs.
In order for children to fully meet the learning objective to the highest attainment I used a wide range of teaching strategies within my practice to cater to as many learning styles within the time frame. To begin I opened with an interactive discussion with the children sharing life experiences with robotics with a discussion. This encouraged children to use their logical thinking and to learn from a social perspective that benefits children who flourish within a group setting. Following this, I used strategic questioning to influence children’s creative flow of thinking, followed with cooperative learning. Clarke (2005) discusses the need to teach children accordingly by offering opportunities to work cooperatively as this allows children to explore their knowledge with one another, creating improvements to help consolidate their learning. Cooperative learning proved to be a successful strategy as all groups were working in mixed attainment levels which influenced some pupils to be stretched by their peers when constructing their algorithms for this task.
To conclude, I would adapt the strategies I used within this lesson in my own teaching practice by using discussion and feedback throughout the lesson to ensure children are making progress to meeting the learning objective. Through this exercise I have now gained an understanding on how to further enhance children’s learning within computing by making it cross-curricular and interactive.
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Reference List:
Clarke, S. (Ed.) (2005) Formative assessment in action: weaving the elements together. London: Hodder Education.
Department for Education (DfE) (2013) National Curriculum in England: Primary Computing Curriculum (online) Available: < https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/national-curriculum-in-england-computing-programmes-of-study/national-curriculum-in-england-computing-programmes-of-study#key-stage-2 > (Accessed 14th November 2017)
Thinkersmith (2013) Travelling Circuits: Lesson 3, My Robotic Friends. [Online] Available from: https://csedweek.org/files/CSEDrobotics.pdf [accessed 03 November 2017].
Turvey, K., Potter, J. and Burton, J. (2016) Primary Computing and Digital Technologies; Knowledge, Understanding and Practice, London: Sage, Learning Matters.