Week 8

Programming a Model Foundation - Year 2

During last weeks reflection I was considering how digital technologies could be included in the classroom and the pedagogy that could be used to promote understanding. I struggled to find concepts in last weeks material that could be used to support Foundation to year 2 curriculum. 

After reading this weeks activity of creating a set of instructions for a visually impaired students or making toast, I have realised I was thinking about the curriculum to literally. I think this task is a great way for students to engage with algorithmic thinking and it is definitely something I would use in my classroom. The pedagogical approaches to teaching this would include; allowing students time to complete the activity, providing support when required, prior knowledge of the concept of forwards, backwards, left and right, support in finding alternative pathways and supporting experimenting. This is a great activity to encourage students to develop social skills as the will need to communicate with their peers to assess whether their instructions are correct or not. Lastly, I love that this activity encourages problem solving skills which will enhance their ability to problem solve in other areas of curriculum - such as mathematics. 

Programming a Robot Year 3-4

I think the most appealing thing about the Angry Birds programming is that it is a game that has already built a large following with children and they will be more engage because of it (and you get a neat certificate when you are finished). I believe that curriculum can be interpreted many ways and it is dependent on the individual as to how they see it and how it is implemented. Personally, I interpret the Hour of Code activities as way of engaging students in digital solutions and algorithms as well as extending problem solving abilities. For activities such as these, I would provide a set of instructions for the students to access the website, begin programming and allow them to explore the activity at their own pace. This will allow the student as much time as they need to understand the activity and progress with the class. 

Scratch

During our class this week we watched the video about Scratch and this ignited my excitement for the program and digital technologies curriculum. As a class we discussed the pedagogy that was used throughout the video. Some of these things  include (Holmes, 2015):

• Having conversations
• Developing processes
• Use think-aloud techniques 
• Use visioning questions
• Support sharing 
• Encourage multiple pathways

Using scratch covers many aspects of the curriculum from year 4-6, however this is a program that will take a long time for the children to get their heads around and would be something that was completed over the term or the year. I began created a game below. 

Week 7

This video solidifies my belief that as a human race we should be proud of how far we have come and the technology that has been created. I often argue with my grandma who thinks that the world should still be in the dark and have no access to the information the world can provide us. My grandma would never have dreamed that from a device no bigger than your wallet you can access information from anywhere in the world at the tap of your finger, that medical technology would be so advance we can save a babies life from inside the womb and that thanks to these things, one day there may even be a cure for cancer. The future of these technological advances are the children we teach and therefore, I believe that computational thinking is a fundamental part of what we as teachers should be doing.

Computational Thinking
Computational thinking is a skill involving problem solving and techniques used to write computer programs and applications. Some specific techniques used include; decomposition, pattern recognition, pattern generalization and abstraction, and algorithm design (Google). 

Barr and Stephenson (2011) pose the questions:

• What would computational thinking look like in the classroom? 
• What are the skills the students would demonstrate?
• What would a teacher need in order to put computational thinking into practice? 
• What are teachers already doing that can be modified and extended? 

For my reflection I am going to explore these questions in relation to The Australian Curriculum and complete a series of digital challenges to extend my knowledge of computational thinking and how to implement this in the classroom. 

International Society for Technology in Education (2015) describes computational thinking as the following: 

• The ability to formulate problems enabling the use of computers and other tools.
• The ability to logically organise data. 
• The ability to represent data through abstractions such as models and simulations. 
• The ability to find solutions through algorithmic thinking (a series of ordered steps) and;
• The ability to identify, analyse and implement possible solutions using the most effective steps. 

Although these characteristics may not be definitive, it provides an overview of the things that might already be happening in the classroom to adapt computational thinking. For example; the ability to logically organise data would be a skill students have already developed through science experiments where they are asked to completed an experiment and organise that data into a scientific report. The ability to find solutions through algorithmic thinking can be developed through writing instructions in a literacy lesson. So as you can see - computational thinking is a skill being developed through everyday experiences in the classroom.

The challenges below provide ideas of how computational thinking can be incorporated into the classroom and considerations for curriculum will be discussed. 

Digital Learning Challenge - Codes 

I completed the Khan Academy Introduction into Java Script, which I thought would be extremely useful in a year 3-4 classroom. I chose this activity for a year 3 or 4 classroom as it is a tutorial providing all students with in depth instructions for the activity and introduces the students to new and unfamiliar vocabulary in a way they will understand. To adapt this activity the students will be asked to create a landscape picture as the final product. 

I began an example of the task above, it was very time consuming so I did not finish it. But I think it provides an indication of what will be expected. 

I believe time will be the biggest factor when implementing an activity such as the one above. I spent 45mins on the above picture and that is as far as I had gotten. For the students to successfully complete the task clear instruction and teacher assistance will be required. Some students may find this concept difficult, especially if they are not confident with coordinates as this requires you to think about where the shapes will be on the coordinates. For students who are struggling with this concept it may help to complete the activity on graph paper before moving onto the online activity as it will provide them with a visual representation of the pixels (eg. 0-400 pixels). 

Digital Learning Challenge - Algorithms 

I began this challenge by creating the tuckshop survey. Unfortunately, I did not consult with a tuckshop for the challenge however I created general questions and was able to show my ability to create an Abstraction in Microsoft Word. 

I loved this activity and I believe it is something that could be used in the classroom to promote computational thinking as it requires students to gather data and present it in a word document. Through careful instruction I believe this is an activity most students will be able to complete and is an activity that could be used in many subject areas. 

The second activity I completed was the ThinkingMyself website. This is a great introduction into the focuses for this course - abstraction, patterns, decomposition and algorithms. 

Digital Pedagogy 
I have explored the use of flow charts or hierarchy to represent information. After completing a google search of this concept there were many example presented. These flow charts are a great way to incorporate discussion into the classroom and we have also explored other digital formats such as bubbl.us and mindomo.  

Lastly, a short not on the difference between digital and media literacy based on a discussion by Media Smart. 

Digital Literacy: Skills needed to live in a digital world; eg. personal, technological and intellectual. Encompasses practical competencies from playing, learning and working in a knowledge economy which is separate from media literacy. 

Media Literacy: Engagement with mass media using a variety of skills such as critical thinking, communication and information management skills. 

Theses two concepts are skills that are taught within the Australian Curriculum: Technologies and some of these ideas have been explored throughout this reflection. 


References

ACARA. (2014). Digital Technologies. Retrieved from http://www.australiancurriculum.edu.au/technologies/digital-technologies/curriculum/f-10?layout=1 

Barr, V. & Stephenson, C. (2011). Computational thinking to K-12: What is involved and what is the role of the computer science education community.  ACM Intoads, 2(1), 48-54. From https://www.iste.org/docs/nets-refresh-toolkit/bringing-ct-to-k-12.pdf?sfvrsn=2

Media Smarts. (n.d). The intersection of digital and media literacy. Retrieved from http://mediasmarts.ca/digital-media-literacy/general-information/digital-media-literacy-fundamentals/intersection-digital-media-literacy

Thinking Myself. Retrieved from http://games.thinkingmyself.com/

Week 6

Using the Binary Code

Learning the binary code has been a very big challenge for me. I found the information I was trying to process very confusing so it took me a very long time to begin to grasp this concept. I have learned that the binary code is what is used for digital circuits and to begin to understand this you must understand how the binary code works. This concept is something I am sure most people will not use in their lifetime but as it is part of the curriculum, it must be taught. 

The word Binary means 'two' and therefore only uses two numbers - 1 and 0. 

The image below helped me to understand the concept of Binary numbers, however, I am still trying to get my head around it. 

The Australian Curriculum: Technologies outlines binary numbers as a year 5-6 concept under the content descriptor:

• Investigate how digital systems use whole numbers as a basis for representing all types of data (ACTDIK015)

My little understanding of this concept means that at this stage my pedagogy surrounding this topic is very limited. Through research on the topic I have seen it taught in games such as the dot game, memory, true or false and puzzles. Until I can completely grasp the concept I haven't felt comfortable creating a game to teach it. Other factors that might influence teaching this concept in the classroom could be student diversity and community values. The diversity of the classroom will affect the effectiveness of teaching this topic as we are faced with many different types of learners, some who may grasp this concept easily and some (like me) who struggle to gain an understanding. Another example is that Indigenous students require tasks to be related to real world concepts and this is something most students will not use in their adult lives (Dhinawun Consltancy, 2011). To add to this, the values of the community (including parents) will be another consideration as some parents may not see this topic as an important concept in relation to numeracy and literacy. For me, I struggled to see the real life relevance for the students and that almost deems this irrelevant at this age. 

Dhinawun Consultancy. (2011). 101 Effective Teaching Strategies for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Students. Retrieved from www.dhinawun.com.au.

Maths is Fun. (2014). Binary Digits. Retrieved from http://www.mathsisfun.com/binary-digits.html

Info-graphics

This task was more my style. I am very creative so this task was fun and and gave me an opportunity to continue to expand my knowledge on the binary code. Infographics are used to encourage visual literacy and are described by Chiara Ojeda to do the following: 

1) to grab an audience’s attention (students as we know have short attention spans).
2) to pare down ideas, theories, and content so students can not only understand the information more easily but retain information longer.
3) to challenge students to think critically about course concepts and create a non-traditional mode of composition/communication.

I believe that the infographics could be used in the classroom to promote creativity and digital thinking if they were used as an activity to describe a topic. I found the website easel.ly extremely easy to navigate and this would be a website students could use as well. Of course, resources are a consideration for this activity as the school may not have the technology to support the students (for example, computers). And once again, student diversity is another consideration as some students will require further assistance to be able to complete the activity. 

Below is an example of an infographic I created on easel.ly outlining the binary code. This is information aimed at educators and would need to be adapted to suit the needs of the students if it was going to be used in the classroom.  

Infographics fit into the technology curriculum under the following year 3-4 content descriptor: 

• Work with others to plan the creation and communication of ideas and information safely, applying agreed ethical and social protocols ACTDIP013