This week in Digital Technologies we learned about the benefits of coding in the classroom. The ability to code computer programs is an important part of literacy in today’s society and it has been said that coding is the new literacy. Also, when people learn to code, they learn important strategies for:

• Solving problems
• Designing projects
• Communicating ideas

In class we used “Scratch Jr”, an introductory programming language that enables young children (ages 5 and up) to create their own interactive stories and games. Children snap together graphical programming blocks to make characters move, jump and sing.

Our task was to individually create a literacy lesson using Scratch Jr. I decided to focus on the use of adjectives. My expression and outcome for Literacy was “Within real and imaginary situations, I share experiences and feelings, ideas and information in a way that communicates my message” (LIT 0-26a) and for Computing Science, “I understand that sequences of instructions are used to control computing technology” (TCH 0-14a). using Scratch Jr, I created four slides with moving characters: a teacher and four pupils. The teacher took the pupils to places around the world and the pupils had to use adjectives to describe what they could see, how they felt, etc.

I thoroughly enjoyed this task because I like to think creatively. I like the fact that my lesson was a story and therefore it was entertaining as well as informative. I spent a lot of time on my lesson to make sure all the actions that my characters did were smooth, but I did not let myself become distracted from the main purpose of the lesson, which was to teach pupils about adjectives.

My story started with a teacher and some pupils in their classroom. The teacher then explained to the children that they were going to take a trip around the world and learn about adjectives. The teacher and pupils went to various places, Antarctica, Africa and a Jungle, and they described what they saw there. Thus, learning about how to use adjectives. At the end of my blog I have attached some at the end which shows exactly what happens.

When young people learn how to use Scratch Jr they are not just learning how to write computer games, they are also developing essential skills for success and happiness in today’s world, skills such as: thinking creatively, reasoning systematically and working collaboratively. Scratch Jr is something that any child with any kind of learning style can use because it is designed for exploration and experimentation. In addition, as well as the pupil’s education benefitting from Scratch Jr it also acts as a teaching aid in subjects like mathematics, English, music, art, design and information technology (The Lead Project, 2014).

There has been a lot of positive feedback about children learning how to code in schools. It has been said that it is a revolution in the study of computing and according to education secretary Michael Gove, “For the first-time children will be learning to programme computers. It will raise standards across the board – and allow our children to compete in the global race” (Curtis. S, 2013).

According to John Naughton children, starting in primary schools, from all backgrounds and every part of the UK should have the opportunity to: learn some of the key ideas of computer science; understand computational thinking; learn to program; and have the opportunity to progress to the next level of excellence in these activities (Naughton. J, 2012).

I took the time to research a Curriculum for Excellence experience and outcome for this particular type of lesson.  I decided that, “using appropriate software, I can work collaboratively to design an interesting and entertaining game which incorporates a form of control technology or interactive multimedia (TCH 2-09a)” was appropriate for what I learned.

 

References

• John Naughton (2012) Why all our kids should be taught how to code. [Online] Available: http://moodle.uws.ac.uk/pluginfile.php/105150/mod_resource/content/2/Why%20all%20our%20kids%20should%20be%20taught%20how%20to%20code%20%20Education%20%20The%20Observer.pdf [Accessed: 3 January 2018].
• Sophie Curtis (2013) Teaching our children to code: a quiet revolution. [Online] Available: http://moodle.uws.ac.uk/pluginfile.php/105151/mod_resource/content/1/Teaching%20our%20children%20to%20code%20a%20quiet%20revolution%20-%20Telegraph.pdf [Accessed: 3 January 2018].
• The Lead Project (2014) Super Scratch Programming Adventure: Learn to Program by Making Cool Games! No Starch Press.