Mobile ‘Comfort’ Zones: Overcoming Barriers to Enable Facilitated Learning in the Workplace.

The affordances of mobile technologies are well documented (cf Sharples, Vavolua, Wali, Cook, Pachler). Linked with the rapid expansion of the ‘SMART’ phones, where users access fast/high quality information, new opportunities are offered to engage students at a time/place of their own choosing. This small-scale study is located within the dominant discourse of mobile learning literature of context specific learning; it explores the attitudes and habits of trainee teachers using their own mobile devices when working full time in a school setting. We present a conceptual model for looking strategically at mobile learners in different personal/ professional contexts. This highlights the design barriers to be overcome before the full potential of mobile learning can be successful with our own students when isolated on placement and juggling busy, complex lives. Our findings indicate that students have complex/interwoven narratives that relate to issues of identity, personal/private space and their involvement in an emergent community of practice

Teaching computer programming with PRIMM: a sociocultural perspective

Background and Context: With computing now becoming a mandatory subject in school in many countries, there is a need for clearly defined pedagogical strategies to support all learners; this is particularly pertinent when teaching computer programming, which novice adults have struggled with for decades. Vygotsky’s sociocultural theory emphasises the importance of language, mediation, and the transfer of skills and knowledge from the social into the cognitive plane. This perspective has influenced the development of PRIMM (Predict, Run, Investigate, Modify, Make), a structured approach to teaching programming. Objective: The objective of the study was to find out if using PRIMM to teach programming had an impact on learner attainment in secondary school, and the extent to which it was a valuable method for teachers. Method: We evaluated the use of PRIMM in 13 schools with 493 students aged 11-14 alongside a control group, using a mixed-methods approach. Teachers delivered programming lessons using the PRIMM approach for 8-12 weeks. Data were collected via a combination of a baseline test, a post-test to compare control and experimental groups, and teacher interviews. Findings: Learners who participated in the PRIMM lessons performed better in the post test than the control group. Teachers reported several benefits of the PRIMM approach, including that PRIMM helped them to teach effectively in mixed-ability classes, enabling all learners to make progress. Implications: We hope that PRIMM makes a contribution to programming education research, as it builds on previous work in effective pedagogy for teachers, and encourages the use of language and dialogue to facilitate understanding. Through our evaluation of PRIMM and engagement with classroom teachers, we propose a framework for understanding the learning of programming in the classroom, and present this as an avenue for further research

Supporting students on placement: developing observational skills using mobile technology.

Trainee teachers spend only a fraction of their course time in university with the majority of the year (120 days) spent in placement schools. Therefore, there is always the need to maintain close links with trainees and to enable them to link the theory learned at university to their practice in the classroom. A key aspect of developing as a practitioner is learning from experts in the field, known as cognitive apprenticeship (Collins, 2006). Our trainees spend most of their time at the beginning of their placement observing and taking notes while observing experienced teachers delivering lessons. Training is needed to gain the maximum amount from observation (Borich, 2011) and mobile technology can help in providing some scaffolding to this training. Mobile technology has many uses in education and we describe a bespoke mobile application we have developed called Standards Tag to enable trainee teachers to tag key events observed in the classroom. The application has two major features: audio clips for key theoretical concepts behind aspects of teaching and learning, linked to the Teacher Standards (DfE, 2013); and a tag feature for noticed observations which are then sent by email to the student’s email address

Computing in the classroom: Tales from the chalkface

AbstractComputing, a broad discipline including computer science, information technology and digital literacy, was introduced as a mandatory national curriculum subject in England in 2014. This meant the introduction of both computer programing and more academic computer science into the curriculum. Such a significant curriculum change involves a period of transition, lasting several years. Here we consider what we have learned about the implementation of the new curriculum, the external influences that have come to bear on teachers’ and pupils’ experiences, and the challenges that are faced.</jats:p

K-5 Teachers' Uses of Levels of Abstraction Focusing on Design

Recent research with middle school and university students highlights two factors that contribute to programming success: 1) understanding the level of abstraction that you are working at, and 2) being able to move between levels. In this qualitative study, we explored levels of abstraction, and particularly the design level,with five K-5 teachers. Here we outline 11 main findings. The teachers interviewed use the design level for both programming and writing. However, the two expert computing teachers have a far greater depth of understanding of the opportunities for the use of the design level, supporting pupils to understand the level they are working at and helping them move between levels of abstraction by using designs in novel ways. Further work is needed to investigate whether our results are generalisable. Further exploration of levels of abstraction and particularly how the design level helps K-5 learners learn to program, in the same way, that planning supports novices learning to write, is warranted

Abstraction in action: K-5 teachers' uses of levels of abstraction, particularly the design level, in teaching programming

Research indicates that understanding levels of abstraction (LOA) and being able to move between the levels is essential to programming success. For K-5 contexts LOA levels have been named: problem, design, code and running the code. In a qualitative exploratory study, five K-5 teachers were interviewed on their uses of LOA, particularly the design level, in teaching programming and other subjects. Using PCK elements to analyse responses, the teachers interviewed used design as an instructional strategy and for assessment. The teachers used design as an aide memoire and the expert teachers used design: as a contract for pair-programming; to work out what they needed to teach; for learners to annotate with code snippets (to transition across LOA); for learners to self-assess and to assess ‘do-ability’. The teachers used planning in teaching writing to scaffold learning and promote self-regulation revealing their insight in student understanding. One issue was of the teachers' knowledge of terms including algorithm and code; a concept of ‘emergent algorithms’ is proposed. Findings from the study suggest design helps learners learn to program in the same way that planning helps learners learn to write and that LOA, particularly the design level, may provide an accessible exemplar of abstraction in action. Further work is needed to verify whether the study's results are generalisable more widely

Teachers' Experiences of using PRIMM to Teach Programming in School

PRIMM is an approach to teaching programming at K-12 that facilitates the structure of lessons in a purposeful way. PRIMM stands for Predict-Run-Investigate-Modify-Make, and draws on recent research in programming education. In particular the PRIMM approach recognises that starting with existing code and being able to explain what it does gives novice programmers the confidence to write their own programs. Using the PRIMM approach, teachers can devise scaffolded and targeted tasks for students which helps engender understanding, particularly for those who may have previously struggled to understand programming concepts. In this techniques paper, we consider what PRIMM is, and the experiences that teachers have had of using the structure in the classroom. PRIMM materials have been trialled in schools in a study involving around 500 students aged 11-14. From interviews with nine participating teachers we have found that teachers particularly value the collaborative approach taken in PRIMM, the structure given to lessons, and the way that resources can be differentiated. We propose that PRIMM is an approach that could be adopted in all phases of programming education as well as in teacher training

Comparing K-5 teachers' reported use of design in teaching programming and planning in teaching writing

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Abstraction and Common Classroom Activities

In popularizing computational thinking, Wing notes that ‘abstraction is described as underlying computational thinking and computational thinking is described as fundamental to computing.’ Emerging curricular now require educators to incorporate computational thinking and abstraction into their teaching. Many refer to Piaget’s work as evidence of an age-related ceiling preventing younger pupils from being able to abstract. However, more recent evidence suggests that pupils use elements of abstraction in their general process of learning, and that the skill of abstraction can be explicitly taught. We draw on personal classroom experience to illustrate the points made in the literature. Common classroom activities such as using labelled diagrams, concept maps and storyboards are aligned to features of abstraction. We argue that abstraction can and should be taught to young pupils