Here I outline how we have used a variety of resources to increase our Year 7 students’ understanding of sequencing and use of loops – as well as having fun and engaging with their learning.

Having reviewed our baseline test at the beginning of Year 7, our Year 7s showed better than expected eSafety, better Scratch understanding, but poorer computing programming and sequencing skills.  I looked at several resources online and have used Phil Bagge’s Jam Sandwich making Robot, Stephen Howell’s Scratch Shape Drawing Activity for CoderDojo; Simon Haughton’s Etch-a-Sketch; and Barefoot Computing’s Crystal Flowers (pdf download) to create the following resources:

“Scratch Shapes” scheme of learning – jam sandwich making robot and Scratch Polygons and nested loops More

Now what? Action items from social science research to bridge the gender gap in computing research – Stout-Camp-2015

Women require work to have a clear social application.
Stress teams require both genders to function to solve real-life problems – adv to be female.
Need have a sense of belonging.
Men write more on competence and women more on warmth related – compassion and interpersonal skills.

Next step(s): stress advantage to be a woman in minority STEM subject as needed in a balanced team.

Lost In Translation “Gender and High School Computer Science” – Goode J, Estrella R, & Margolis J – 2006

(Chapter 3 of Women and Information Technology: Research on Underrepresentation – Joanne Cohoon and William Aspray)

Sue Sentance suggested several research papers to me, and this was by far the most useful.

“This chapter presents four themes that suggest some reasons why and how high school female students are — or are not — drawn into the field of computer science through their high school experiences. First, despite the national and local initiatives to “bring schools into the twenty-first century,” researchers discovered that few computer science learning opportunities actually exist at the high school level, especially in schools that serve communities of colour.  Second, they found that notions of relevance play a key role in influencing females’ choices to enrol or not enrol in computer science classes.   A limited and narrow presentation of what computer science is as well as what computer scientists actually do impacts students’ take on how computer science could further their academic and career endeavours. Third, for the female students who do take computer science, researchers observed an accumulation of negative experiences in classroom settings, where greater male technology experience/expertise and female social isolation and insecurity are part of the cultural landscape. Fourth, all of these experiences are then compounded by the way that computer science is motivated and “interpreted” for the students”.

More

We are on track to *finally* get our BBC Micro:bits out to our Year 8s… this is how we are going to do it … and we are excited about the Grok Learning Quest challenges for after half term.

Our Digital Leaders are trained up using out 3 step programme www.gr8ict.com/bbc_microbit More

Using the Raspberry Pi in Code Clubs and the Curriculum – click to go to slides

“This session will provide an introduction to the Raspberry Pi and first-hand experience of setting up a Pi-Lab.  Then some thoughts on how it fits in with the KS3 curriculum as well as Code Clubs.  The second half of the session will be hands-on using a Raspberry Pi for an example KS3 lesson”.

Developing Digital Leaders to Support Computing – click to go to slides

“Digital Leaders can mean many things but this session will help you gain insights into how students can help you with implementing an effective computing curriculum.  You will be shown stages of developing Digital Leaders and given time to discuss and plan how you might develop their use in your school including running Code Clubs”.

“Digital Leaders in Primary and Secondary”
– Developing Young People as well as the Technology

Raspberry Pi – Hardware and Classroom Management

Link to worksheet for pelican crossing

Here is my assortment of notes from #BETT2016, including follow-up tweets and next steps. Sorry if I have missed anyone deserving of a mention.

Digital leaders | Code Club | Raspberry Pi | Microbit | Computing Curriculum | #Teacher5aday

Digital Leaders
It’s my fourth year in a row taking Digital Leaders to Bett, and this time was the best yet due to working with other colleagues and students for both the arena presentation and the #kidsmeet.
Highlights of the arena were @L_S_Stone’s 22 (yes twenty two) Year 1’s invading the arena with an assortment of Beetbots and Spheros, and of course, all our digital leaders standing up and demonstrating all the good work that is going on in these schools – Recreation Road Infant School, Norwich; Myrtle Park Primary School, Bradford; King Edward VI School, Southampton and Lady Lumley’s School, North Yorkshire. Supported by @L_S_Stone, @_Wossername_ and @rlj1981. Unfortunately I didn’t get to meet some of my #dlchat colleagues afterwards as one of my year 7s was sick in the toilets. Luckily he recovered to enjoy Bett later.  Thanks to @clcsimon, @slr112 and @ThatEdTechGuy for tweets from the Arena.

Highlights of the #kmbett2016 were seeing the school leadership summit tent overflowing with digital leaders from at least eight schools. Also meeting #nightzookeeper (Paul Hutson) and catching up with @SheliBB and other DL coordinators. A big thank you to the hardworking teachers for bringing students to BETT (@HeadDownEyesUp and @Claire_N_Jones) and the volunteers such as @ictevangelist for giving up their time to provide the activities. Sophie, Karen and i2i made a big commitment to have more students at BETT2016 and I’m very grateful for their help and support.

Next steps:
> follow up having more students involvement at Bett next year
More

More