As part of the Teaching, Learning, and Assessment class in Seattle Pacific University’s Digital Education Leadership Program, we are learning about ISTE student standard 4- Innovative Designer. For this standard I wanted to investigate how to work with open-ended problems using coding to develop perseverance and a tolerance for ambiguity in young learners. Through research, my focus for this investigation was to cover the following standard indicator:
4d: Exhibit a tolerance for ambiguity, perseverance and the capacity to work with open-ended problem
Learning with Coding:
Coding is referred to as “the language of programmers” and is stated to be essential for students to be practicing regularly in today’s digital world. (Team ISTE, 2016)
Playing with Code:
Learning through play has shown time and time again to develop creativity, intelligence, imagination, and social skills. (Bers, 2018) Vygotsky theorized that “play facilitates cognitive development and that make-believe play could foster the development of symbolic thought and self-regulation.” (Bers, 2018) Allowing students to utilize apps such as Scratchjr, in which they are able to learn code concepts and skills through a play-based setting, gives them an opportunity to discover the world around them at their own pace while maintaining motivation and expressing self interest.
Encouraging Young Designers:
The goal is to encourage students to ask “big” questions and attempt to come up with their own solutions through trail and error and learning through their failures. (Bers, 2018) Students explore many powerful ideas during this process such as “sequencing, debugging, and design, which are the core concepts of computational thinking”. (Ber, 2018) These ideas stem from experiences and can be related to Early Childhood concepts and skills such as:
Curriculum Considerations:
Before implementing coding into your curriculum you should review the following considerations:
- Pacing : Do you have a scope and sequence of activities and how long are you expecting students to reach these goals? (Ber, 2018)
- Types of Coding Activities: Are the activities going to be more structured or more open ended? Are students working in a group or independently?(Ber, 2018)
- Materials: “To code we need tools”, what types of tools do the students need to be successful? (Ber, 2018)
- Classroom Management: Are the expectations clear to the students for each section of the project? Are there routines they need to follow? (Ber, 2018)
- Group Sizes: Whole group, small group, in pairs, or individual? (Ber, 2018)
- Addressing state and national frameworks: Currently there is none, but this could change in the future. (Ber, 2018)
- Assessments: How will you assess the learning process and the learning outcomes? (Ber, 2018)
Positive Technological Development (PTD) Framework:
“The PTD framework developed by Bers (2012). PTD proposes six positive behaviors (6 C’s) that should be supported by educational programs that use new educational technologies. These are: creation, creativity, communication, collaboration, community building, and choices of conduct. The third column, Program Practice, is left blank for educators to complete on their own based on their own classroom cultures, practices, and rituals.” (Bers, 2018)
Content Creation: “The design process and the computational thinking involved in programming foster competence in computer literacy and technological fluency.” (Ber, 2018)
Creativity: “As children approach solving technical problems in creative ways, they develop a sense of confidence in their learning potential.” (Ber, 2018)
Collaboration: “By engaging children in a learning environment that promotes working in teams, sharing resources, and caring about each other.” (Ber, 2018)
Communication: “Through mechanisms that promote a sense of connection between peers or with adults.” (Ber, 2018)
Community Building: “Through scaffolded opportunities to form a learning community that promotes the contribution of ideas.” (Ber, 2018)
Choices of Conduct: “Provides children with the opportunity to experiment with “what if” questions and potential consequences, and to provoke examination of values and exploration of character traits.” (Ber, 2018)
Benefits of Coding
From learning about how to code, to using code as part of a daily routine in the classroom, students gain multiple skills and knowledge about problem solving.(Team ISTE, 2016) Other benefits Team ISTE mentions of using coding in the classroom are:
- It sparks interest.
- It opens up a new domain of knowledge.
- It addresses the gender gap.
- It leverages the magical power of parents.
- It provides momentum for CS curriculum.
- It meet ISTE standards for students.
Tools and Programs
There are many coding programs and apps for kids of varying ages. During my research I found coding programs that were developmentally appropriate for children and allowed them to creatively make sequencing stories and express themselves through programming. One of these programs that I referenced during this post and one I am going to try with my own classroom is called ScratchJr. Here is a video that explains a bit more about the program and shows you examples of young children actively participating with the app:
I also found this list of resources on Edutopia written by Vicki Davis that provides multiple age appropriate coding apps/programs for students:
Youngest Students:
8 and Up:
References:
[MIT Media Lab]. (2014, March 18). ScratchJr. [Video File]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mXbOMQ-0WWU
Davis, Vicki. (2016, November 18). 15+ Ways of Teaching Every Student to Code (Even Without a Computer). Retrieved from https://www.edutopia.org/blog/15-ways-teaching-students-coding-vicki-davis
Team ISTE. (2018, August 28). 6 reasons for coding in K-5 classrooms. Retrieved from https://www.iste.org/explore/articleDetail?articleid=866&category=In-the-classroom&article=
Team ISTE. (2016, January 19). Here’s how you teach innovative thinking. Retrieved from https://www.iste.org/explore/articleDetail?articleid=651
Bers, Marina. Umaschi. (2018). Coding as a Playground, Programming and Computational Thinking in the Early Childhood Classroom. New York. NY: Routledge.
