V Jornadas eMadrid sobre "Educación Digital". Miles Berry, Computing at School & U....

Computational thinking in English schools: the story so far

Miles Berry@mberry These slides: bit.ly/emadrid

1 July 2015

Designing a computing curriculum

Teaching machines?

In many schools today, the phrase “computer-aided instruction” means making the computer teach the child. One might say the computer is being used to program the child. In my vision, the child programs the computer and, in doing so, both acquires a sense of mastery over a piece of the most modern and powerful technology and establishes an intimate contact with some of the deepest ideas from science, from mathematics, and from the art of intellectual model building.

Papert, 1980

From consumers to creators

UsersCommunicators

Digitally literateSafe

SkillsMagic

MakersCollaboratorsDigitally criticalResponsibleUnderstandingKnowledge

Beauty or utility?

If you want a golden rule that will fit everybody, this is it:

Have nothing in your houses that you do not know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful.

Morris, 1880

Foundations

Applications

Implications

CS, IT, DL

Computing

DfE, 2013

A high-quality computing education equips pupils to use computational thinking and creativity to understand and change the world.

qbmaze

qbmaze

Aims

can understand and apply the fundamental principles and concepts of computer science, including abstraction, logic, algorithms and data representationcan analyse problems in computational terms, and have repeated practical experience of writing computer programs in order to solve such problemscan evaluate and apply information technology, including new or unfamiliar technologies, analytically to solve problemsare responsible, competent, confident and creative users of information and communication technology

DfE, 2013

CT progression in the NC

5-7: understand what algorithms are; use logical reasoning to predict the behaviour of simple programs

7-11: solve problems by decomposing them into smaller parts; use logical reasoning to explain how some simple algorithms work and to detect and correct errors in algorithms and programs

DfE, 2013

CT progression in the NC

11-14: design, use and evaluate computational abstractions; understand several key algorithms that reflect computational thinking; use logical reasoning to compare the utility of alternative algorithms for the same problem

14-16: develop and apply their analytic, problem-solving, design, and computational thinking skills

DfE, 2013

Architects or bricklayers?

programming = algorithms + code

the practical experience of programming, [is] almost certainly the best way for primary pupils to learn about computer science

Why programming?

Berry, 2013

Mindstorms

Papert, 1980

I began to see how children who had learned to program computers could use very concrete computer models to think about thinking and to learn about learning and in doing so, enhance their powers as psychologists and as epistemologists.

Logo and Problem Solving

We find that the entry level of Logo does not present conceptual problems for the school-aged child... With thoughtful instruction, which will require developmental research for its design, we expect that Logo may provide a good window for the child into these important computational concepts. With accompanying instruction in thinking skills, developments in planning skill may in fact be achieved.

Pea, 1983

Computational thinking - an emerging model

Computational thinking

Berry 2015

Getting computers to help us to solve problems is a two-step process:1. think about the steps to solve a

problem or the rules that govern the system

2. use your technical skills to get the computer working on the problem.

Computational thinking is the first of these. It describes the concepts, processes and approaches we draw on when thinking about problems or systems in such a way that a computer can help us with these.

Logical reasoning

Algorithms

Decomposition

cc by-nc Alexy Kljatov

Patterns

Abstraction

Food and drink

BS 6008

Phil Bagge

Sandwich Bot

Robot kitchens?

With a little help from our friends

CPD matters

We know that teachers learn best from other professionals and that an ‘open classroom’ culture is vital: having the opportunity to plan, prepare, reflect and teach with other teachers... [and yet]two-thirds of all professional development is ‘passive learning’ – sitting and listening to a presentation.

DfE, 2010

Computing at School: Hubs

Some CAS research questions

● How should we teach programming to children? ● How effective are “unplugged” approaches to learning

computer science?● How should we assess computing? ● Does an early education in computing improve outcomes

in Maths or English? ● How can computational thinking skills enrich learning in

maths, science, and other subjects?● In what order are computational concepts best learned?● Women are massively under-represented in computing.

What practical strategies help?

@mberrym.berry@roehampton.ac.ukmilesberry.net

computingatschool.org.uk

These slides: bit.ly/emadrid

Questions?