Module 1: Why teach computing at primary and what to focus on?
Module 2: How to teach computing at primary level?
Module 3: What tools & resources can I use to teach computing - part 1
Module 4: What tools & resources can I use to teach computing - part 2 |
Learning Objectives for this Module: 1. Acquire an understanding how educational robotics can develop a range of key competences 2. Understand how different game design tools can be used in a primary context 3. Gain more in-depth skills of using one game-design tool by creating a small game
Download the script in pdf here Welcome for a quick overview of what’s coming up in Module 3. In this module we finally delve into the types of tools and resources that are out there and which can help us bring Computing in an engaging fashion into our classrooms. The first type of tool we focus on are robots. Robots are a great way to engage children in computing because they naturally attract their curiosity and allow for a very hands-on and kinesthetic way of learning. Of course, to have robots in your classroom does require a bit of investment and as many of you were pointing out in previous modules, not even having enough computers is in many cases your primary challenge. But not all robots are expensive pieces of equipment and you won't necessarily need many of them to engage your students. So it is worth exploring at the level of your school if instead of extra computers it is worth to invest in a few comparatively inexpensive robots such as the beebots. Talking about educational robotics we have a great teacher from Italy joining us who will also be leading our webinar this week. Make sure to join us for this opportunity to ask her more questions about how robotics and coding can be brought together in the primary classroom. The second part of the module focuses on the development of computer games. Most young children, even at the very earliest levels of primary will probably have some experience of computer games. With the rise of smartphones and tablets, many toddlers nowadays are already confronted with a variety games-like activities on these devices. So why not use computer games as a mechanism to bring computing to children. As Ollie Bray, a headteacher from Scotland who has loads of experience of using games for learning at his school, says in the videos in this module, children should not just be consumers of digital content but also creators. So if you only do one thing from everything addressed on this course, make sure to explore the games design tools that are out there to get young children into coding, programming and many other areas of computing. This module's activity continues to focus on the development of your Learning Diary. As previously make sure to collect notes, resources and ideas from the module on your Learning Diary. However, on top of this, in this module we would like you to prepare a short game using one of the tools introduced by Ollie Bray in the videos of section 3.4 and 3.5. Choose one of the tools which you would like to use in your classroom and prepare a game that you can use as an example to show to your students of the type of game you would like them to create. Of course this will take a bit more time if you have to get to know the tool first so make sure you reserve enough time this week for the activity. When you are finished, post a link or a short description of your game in your Learning Diary. That’s it for now. See you next week in the final Module. Download the script in pdf here and in Word format here. Welcome for a quick overview of what’s coming up in Module 3. In this module we finally delve into the types of tools and resources that are out there and which can help us bring Computing in an engaging fashion into our classrooms. The first type of tool we focus on are robots. Robots are a great way to engage children in computing because they naturally attract their curiosity and allow for a very hands-on and kinesthetic way of learning. Of course, to have robots in your classroom does require a bit of investment and as many of you were pointing out in previous modules, not even having enough computers is in many cases your primary challenge. But not all robots are expensive pieces of equipment and you won't necessarily need many of them to engage your students. So it is worth exploring at the level of your school if instead of extra computers it is worth to invest in a few comparatively inexpensive robots such as the beebots. Talking about educational robotics we have a great teacher from Italy joining us who will also be leading our webinar this week. Make sure to join us for this opportunity to ask her more questions about how robotics and coding can be brought together in the primary classroom. The second part of the module focuses on the development of computer games. Most young children, even at the very earliest levels of primary will probably have some experience of computer games. With the rise of smartphones and tablets, many toddlers nowadays are already confronted with a variety games-like activities on these devices. So why not use computer games as a mechanism to bring computing to children. As Ollie Bray, a headteacher from Scotland who has loads of experience of using games for learning at his school, says in the videos in this module, children should not just be consumers of digital content but also creators. So if you only do one thing from everything addressed on this course, make sure to explore the games design tools that are out there to get young children into coding, programming and many other areas of computing. This module's activity continues to focus on the development of your Learning Diary. As previously make sure to collect notes, resources and ideas from the module on your Learning Diary. However, on top of this, in this module we would like you to prepare a short game using one of the tools introduced by Ollie Bray in the videos of section 3.4 and 3.5. Choose one of the tools which you would like to use in your classroom and prepare a game that you can use as an example to show to your students of the type of game you would like them to create. Of course this will take a bit more time if you have to get to know the tool first so make sure you reserve enough time this week for the activity. When you are finished, post a link or a short description of your game in your Learning Diary. That’s it for now. See you next week in the final Module.
3.2 Educational Robotics - Example ActivitiesIn this section we would like to give you some help getting started with robots. The first video gives you a general introduction with some nice general activities, regardless of the types of robots you have available (you can even do some without robots). The second and third videos are both videos introducing activities for specific educational robotics tools: Lego WeDo and the Bee-Bot. Both of these focus on schools in the UK so refer to the UK curriculum but all the activities and ideas are equally relevant in other countries. Of course there are other tools available but these two are currently the most well-known and available tools in schools. In particular the Bee-Bot is an inexpensive robot that is great to introduce computing concepts such as algorithms and debugging at the lower levels of primary. Do you have experience of using robots in the classroom? What activities work especially well with robots? Are you using Lego WeDo or the Bee-Bots in your classroom? What works well, what doesn't work well with them? And finally, what other robotic tools are you aware of that you can recommend for the primary classroom? Share your thoughts and ideas in the Padlet below.
Download document: Module 3 Educational Robotics Examples Script.pdf 3.3 Live Webinar: Educational robotics and coding inside the curriculum:Live Webinar: Educational robotics and coding inside the curriculumYOU CAN NOW VIEW THE RECORDING OF THE WEBINAR BELOW. YOU CAN ALSO DOWNLOAD TULLIA'S PRESENTATION FROM THE LINK BELOW THE VIDEO. Date and time: Wednesday, 6th Mayl, 18:30h Brussels time (CEST) Link to access the webinar: http://bit.ly/1OQe6zQ The webinar will be run via the Webex platform. For a short introduction to the platform see the video below. The webinar is run in cooperation with the Scientix project and will be hosted by Scientix staff. You can access the recording of the webinar shortly afterwards in this section. Topic of the webinar: Educational robotics is a methodology that involves the use of robotics to generate competences within the regular curricula. It aims to involve students of all ages - from kindergarten to upper secondary school - in the study of STEM subjects with a new approach. It can easily find a place in traditional maths and science curricula, increasing learning motivation, communication, and the development of mathematical, scientific and digital skills. Robotics also has also the potential to engage students across cultures, linguistic barriers, ages, learning styles and genders. Technological tools may promote inclusion where talented students and students with learning difficulties can easily work together. However, technological tools do not automatically guarantee good results without appropriate pedagogy: we need to understand why and how we should use robotics in our teaching.
The use of educational robotics encourages students in guided discovery and in problem solving - students get used to working in teams to solve problems, find solutions and verify results. As robots are commonly associated with games, robotics kits can be seen as learning mediators: they combine the reconstruction of the knowledge students gain during their school activities, with creativity, invention and conceptualisation, developing new skills and competences along the way. Learning emerges from cooperative working, from a new role of the teacher, who becomes simply a facilitator of the learning process. Relevant Links:
About the presenter: Tullia Urschitz is a maths, science and ICT teacher in a Junior Secondary School in Verona, Italy. She uses educational robotics in her teaching, to attract more students, boys and girls, to STEM subjects. She collaborates with the School of Robotics of Genoa and is a teacher trainer in the use of ICT in education (IWB, educational robotics, new methodologies for learning). Tullia is involved in several European Projects on STEM education and gender. She was a pilot teacher and moderator of teachers' Communities of practices within the inGenious Project; currently, she is part of the Go Lab project and is the Scientix Ambassador in Italy.
Download document: robotics&coding_webinar-urschitz.compressed.pdf 3.4 Simple Game Design ToolsMost young children, even at the very earliest levels of primary will probably have some experience of computer games. With the rise of smartphones and tablets, many toddlers nowadays are already confronted with a variety games-like activities on these devices. So why not use computer games as a mechanism to bring computing to children. As Ollie Bray, a headteacher from Scotland using games for learning at his school, says in the video below, children should not just be consumers but also producers. So if you only do one thing from everything addressed on this course, make sure to explore the games design tools that are out there to get young children into coding, programming and many other areas of computing. Ollie provides a great introduction to the topic in the video below, also highlighting the cross-curricular potential of games. He then briefly introduces some very simple games design tools that you can use especially with the lower levels of primary. For this week's activity (see also section 3.6) we would like you to experiment with one of the tools that Ollie introduces (also in his video in the next section 3.5) and prepare a short game of yourself. If you want to start using these tools with your students you will have to become more familiar with these tools. So choose one of the tools Ollie presents in this section (PowerPoint, Keynote, Scratch Junior, 2simpleDIY) or the next section (Scratch, Kodu, Project Spark, Minecraft) and prepare a small game that you could use as an example to show your students (most of the tools are available free of charge). Post a link or description of your game in the Tricider below and of course on your Learning Diary.
3.5 Advanced Game Design ToolsThis section continues with Ollie's introduction to different game design tools, this time looking at slightly more advanced tools that will be more suitable to the older primary students. Remember, you can also use these for your small game creation to post in your Learning Diary. Below Ollie's video, take a look at two further resources for tools mentioned in his video. The second video highlights the work of the "Queen of Kodu" who provides lots of interesting Kodu related materials as well as other more general Computing related resources on her website:http://www.interactiveclassroom.net including a series of Kodu tutorial videos. Below the videos you will find a website that is a great starting point for using Minecraft in the primary classroom with lots of examples and ideas of what you can do with your students. Make sure to take a browse. You can also access the website directly here.
3.6 Module 3 ActivityThis module's activity continues to focus on the development of your Learning Diary. As previously make sure to collect notes, resources and ideas from the module on your Learning Diary. However, on top of this, in this module we would like you to prepare a short/small game using one of the tools introduced by Ollie Bray in the videos of section 3.4 and 3.5. Choose one of the tools which you would like to use in your classroom and prepare a game that you can use as an example to show to your students of the type of game you would like them to create. Of course this will take a bit more time if you have to get to know the tool first so make sure you reserve enough time this week for the activity. When you are finished, post a link (or if that's difficult) a short description of your game in your Learning Diary. And as usual if you would like to share your Learning Diary with your course colleagues you can post it in the Tricider below (it takes a while to load so please be patient). 3.7 Module 3 QuizTo pass this test, you must correctly answer at least 60% of the questions.
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