Mark Dorling Matthew Walker Calling all teachers What does curriculum mean to you What does creativity mean to you What is your vision of a creative curriculum CAS Conference 2013 Outcomes ID: 411241
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Slide1
How to build an outstanding computer science curriculum
Mark Dorling
Matthew WalkerSlide2
Calling all teachers…
What does curriculum mean to you?
What does creativity mean to you?
What is your vision of a creative curriculum?
CAS Conference 2013Slide3
Outcomes
Develop a department vision, overcoming challenges
Demonstrate progression through the key stages and effectively scaffold learning
Creative computing lessons from example schemes of work
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Challenges
Curriculum that is inclusive – no child left behind
Curriculum that is creative but thorough
Confidence in aligning and interpreting the Computing curriculumUnderstanding the technicalities of the curriculumShowing progression
How to integrate CS, IT and DL into a single scheme of workDeveloping a vision for your curriculumCAS Conference 2013Slide5
Correctly interpreting the curriculum
Digital literacy
National ICT Curriculum
Statuary document
CS
IT
Subject Association Teacher guides
Non- statuary document
Information
Technology
Computer Science
Digital literacy
A School’s curriculum planning
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Interpreting the KS1 curriculum
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Computing is non-linear
‘Dorling Curriculum Map of Computing’ available September 2013
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Options for September 2013
To do nothing… that is an option!
To integrate one or two lesson of Computer Science into existing Digital Literacy (DL) and Information Technology (IT) schemes of work.
To plan a half term or term CS SoW for year 7 and then roll out a SoW to each year group year on year.To plan a half term or term CS SoW for each year group.
To (initially) plan a term or two term curriculum that integrates DL with CS year 7 only.Complete restructuring of all schemes of work
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Mark’s model for September 2012
Why are we focusing on KS2 CS in September?
Resources
SSAT Hack resources
CS Unplugged
CAS Online
CS4FN
Greenfoot
/Alice
Curriculum
KS
2
/3/4
Term 1
Basic functional IT Skills
Term 2 & 3
Advanced functional IT embedded into a creative curriculum underpinned by computing
KS2
DSH Curriculum
Curriculum
Y8/9 GCSE IT
KS3
Extra curricular clubs
KS4
Y10/11 GCSE Computing
Enrichment
After GCSE
Scratch Ed
Kodu
EPL
AppShed
Academy
Code Academy
Industry collaborations
KS4
Y10/11 AS Level
ICT
National Curriculum
DfE
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Matthew’s model for September 2012
Enquiry-based KS3 curriculum (all a combination of DL, IT and CS)
Leads to KS4 Option in GCSE Computer Science
All students have one lesson a week IT in year 10.
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Department ‘vision’
School curriculum policy
Student consultationSlide11
Strategies
Have strategies for managing the transition
Engage other staff, network managers, SLT, students, parents
Know considerations when making decisions like choosing programming languagesHave ideas for raising the profile of computing in your schoolKnow where to get help with clubs
Know where to get affordable and quality CPDCAS Conference 2013Slide12
Subject Knowledge Challenges
Computer Science is more than just programming
What is computational thinking?
How do I develop in my staff and students a rich understanding of how the principals and concepts all link together?How do I teach programming and coding?How do I assess programming code?
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Bridging IT and CS
IT & DL
(Driving the car)
Computer Science
(Engineering the car)
Computational Thinking
(Adapting the car for a given circuit)
Social need
tools
Concepts
Realizing & applying
Problems
Solutions
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Algorithms & Programming
We want to make models of the world to:
understand it
ask ‘what if’ questions and predict the way it will changeHow do we make models?solving problems
by characterising a problemmapping the abstractions of a conceptual modelchoosing appropriate technologyHow do we turn models into programs?
write programs by programming
programming bridges models and computers
Are they separate or inextricably linked?
Model
Program
Predictions
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Every year and at every level
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Implications of the double hump (achievement bimodality)
Many students (and staff) think the subject is too hard
Progression is seriously hindered
Lesson planning and seeing through schemes of work become a major headacheMeasurable underachievement at KS3, GCSE and A-Level
Success is enjoyableCAS Conference 2013Slide17
One voice from university
“Why is it that some software engineers and computer scientists are able to produce clear, elegant designs and programs, while others cannot? Is it possible to improve these skills through education and training
?”
Kramer, 2007
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What are we asking students to do?
A
bstract the problem from its description
Generate subproblems
Transform subproblems into subsolutionsRecompose
E
valuate and iterate
T
his represents the most abstract level of Piagetian abstraction – formal operational reasoning
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Neo-Piagetian levels of abstraction
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Neo-Piagetian levels of abstraction
application to programming skills
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Sensorimotor stage and magic
“Without the ability to reliably produce consistent results via tracing, novices at the sensorimotor stage see code as somewhat magical. That is, they do not experience an executing program as a deterministic machine
.”
Ahadi et al, 2012
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Abstraction informing learning
“…students who tend to reason preoperationally about code will gain little from being forced to write large quantities of code. Such students can only write code by quasi-random mutation. For students who are predominantly reasoning at the preoperational level… we need to develop new types of learning experiences that develop their abstract reasoning without requiring them to write a lot of code.”
Lister, 2011
Computational Thinking
Teach in a way that encourages students to develop their ability to reason under abstractions
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Reducing abstraction
“…students, when facing the need to cope meaningfully with concepts that are too abstract for them, tend to reduce the level of abstraction in order to make these abstract concepts meaningful and mentally accessible… by dealing with specific examples instead of with a whole set defined in general terms.”
Hazzan
, 2008
Students reframe abstractions in concrete form
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Develop the ability to make design decisions
Directed learning
Autonomous learning
Little choice
Lots of choice
Designing
AND
making
Making
WITHOUT
designing
Designing
WITHOUT
making
The balance is dependent on a number of factors:
The SKUAE of the pupils
The SKUAE of your staff
SKUA = Skills, Knowledge, Understanding, Attitudes and experience
Diagram Source:
David Bartlex, Roehampton University
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Make it less abstract!
Why use real life problems AND use a graphical programming tool?
Easier to create meaningful questions for assessment
Easier for students to create drawings that represent the execution of a programSimpler for students to investigate models
Simpler for students to adapt, reason and create modelsData is not hidden so inspection is simplerAvoid simulations in Scratch – this can make it more abstract rather than less!
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Assessing Programming Code
D
oes it appear to work?
Does it really work?rigour of testing, range of data/inputOriginality of code
has a student artfully/skilfully reworked known examples or created something less impressive but original (levels of abstraction)?Features versus bugsLooking at the code
layout, comments, structure, logical errors, genuine understanding
M
eeting the specification
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Looking at programming code
by John
Turnham Green and Acton
Town
Where Air Raid huddles laid them down.Neasden, Willesden, Dollis
Hill,
Tottenham
Hale and Hearty,
still.
Thank you
London Underground
.
And
all your staff, who get me
round.
I
still find it astounding how deep you are.When you are off, we’re off on
rantsWe cram the busAnd as we crawl like ants upon the surface… then we know
The rich resource that’s down below. by maxI sat down on the tube.
It was noisy and dirty.I wanted to get home.Tea was at 5.30.
Mum would be waitingAlways asking questions.The tube was my time.For
making up destinations.I like the tube cus it is cool.I don't like poems.
CAS Conference 2013Slide28
Which programming language & environment
S
caffold the learning of computational thinking
Allow for inspection of variables and data structuresConsider skills and experience of staffL
anguages currently in vogue:PythonTNGLogoSmall BasicPHP
Scratch/BYOB/Panther
VB
Greenfoot
(Java)
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Balanced curriculum summary
Programming isn’t hard when you know how to solve a problem!
Some languages’ syntax and tools are more impenetrable than others
Obsession of “which language” often gets in the way of problem solvingFocus on designing without making… but this isn’t to say that you shouldn’t use programming model solutions along side problem solving
Ensure, whatever language you choose, you have a plan for progression (that is more than a tick sheet of language features)You can never create problems that are scalable enough for children to solve
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Vision vs reality
Does
our
reality of a creative curriculum look different to your
vision for a Creative Curriculum?Honest reflection: To what extent do you think the following affects how we (as teachers) design our curriculums
?
My preferred learning styles…
My areas of expertise, e.g. subject specialism…
My life experiences…
If you were to teach
someone else curriculum would it
still be creative?
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Sample lessons
taken from our schemes of work
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Dinosaurs day out…
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Police, Camera and Action!
Car chase on streets of French town
BREAKING NEWS:
CAS Conference 2013Slide34
The binary behind algorithms
(10)
(10)
(10)
(00)
(00)
(11)
Efficiency of algorithms:
Opt 1:
01,11,11,01,11 = 10 Bits
Opt 2:
10,01,11,11 = 8 Bits
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Can I teach a machine to think?
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A class of code breakers
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Drawing Fractals
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Beautiful numbers
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How do these grab you?
3.1416
6.238673?
1.61803399?
Can you spot the pattern?
0
, 1,
1
, 2,
3
, 5,
8
, 13,
21
“Wow… Improves proportion
In art and teaches recursion!” Slide39
Why is Facebook successful?
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Get with the
algo
-rhythm
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How can I make pigs fly?
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Scratch to mobile
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Questions
CAS Conference 2013