V Jornadas eMadrid sobre "Educación Digital". Miles Berry, Computing at School & U. Roehampton: Computational thinking in English schools - the story so far

1. Computational thinking in English
schools: the story so far
Miles Berry
@mberry
These slides: bit.ly/emadrid
1 July 2015

2. Designing a computing curriculum

3. Teaching machines?
In many schools today, the phrase
“computer-aided instruction” means
making the computer teach the child.
One might say the computer is being
used to program the child.
In my vision, the child programs the
computer and, in doing so, both acquires
a sense of mastery over a piece of the
most modern and powerful technology
and establishes an intimate contact with
some of the deepest ideas from science,
from mathematics, and from the art of
intellectual model building.
Papert, 1980

4. From consumers to creators
Users
Communicators
Digitally literate
Safe
Skills
Magic
Makers
Collaborators
Digitally critical
Responsible
Understanding
Knowledge

5. Beauty or utility?
If you want a golden rule that
will fit everybody, this is it:
Have nothing in your houses
that you do not know to be
useful, or believe to be
beautiful.
Morris, 1880

6. Foundations
Applications
Implications
CS, IT, DL

7. Computing
DfE, 2013
A high-quality computing
education equips pupils to
use computational thinking
and creativity to understand
and change the world.

8. qbmaze

9. qbmaze

10. Aims
can understand and apply the fundamental principles and
concepts of computer science, including abstraction, logic,
algorithms and data representation
can analyse problems in computational terms, and have
repeated practical experience of writing computer programs
in order to solve such problems
can evaluate and apply information technology, including
new or unfamiliar technologies, analytically to solve
problems
are responsible, competent, confident and creative users of
information and communication technology
DfE, 2013

11. CT progression in the NC
5-7: understand what algorithms are;
use logical reasoning to predict the
behaviour of simple programs
7-11: solve problems by
decomposing them into smaller
parts; use logical reasoning to
explain how some simple algorithms
work and to detect and correct errors
in algorithms and programs
DfE, 2013

12. CT progression in the NC
11-14: design, use and evaluate
computational abstractions;
understand several key algorithms
that reflect computational thinking;
use logical reasoning to compare the
utility of alternative algorithms for
the same problem
14-16: develop and apply their
analytic, problem-solving, design,
and computational thinking skills
DfE, 2013

13. Architects or bricklayers?

14. programming = algorithms + code

15. the practical experience of
programming, [is] almost
certainly the best way for
primary pupils to learn about
computer science
Why programming?
Berry, 2013

16. Mindstorms
Papert, 1980
I began to see how children
who had learned to program
computers could use very
concrete computer models to
think about thinking and to
learn about learning and in
doing so, enhance their
powers as psychologists and
as epistemologists.

17. Logo and Problem Solving
We find that the entry level of Logo
does not present conceptual
problems for the school-aged child...
With thoughtful instruction, which
will require developmental research
for its design, we expect that Logo
may provide a good window for the
child into these important
computational concepts. With
accompanying instruction in thinking
skills, developments in planning skill
may in fact be achieved.
Pea, 1983

18. Computational thinking
- an emerging model

19. Computational thinking
Berry 2015
Getting computers to help us to solve
problems is a two-step process:
1. think about the steps to solve a
problem or the rules that govern the
system
2. use your technical skills to get the
computer working on the problem.
Computational thinking is the first of
these. It describes the concepts,
processes and approaches we draw on
when thinking about problems or
systems in such a way that a computer
can help us with these.

21. Logical reasoning

22. Algorithms

23. Decomposition

24. cc by-nc Alexy Kljatov
Patterns

25. Abstraction

26. Food and drink

28. BS 6008

29. Phil Bagge

30. Sandwich Bot

31. Robot kitchens?

32. With a little help from our
friends

35. CPD matters
We know that teachers learn best
from other professionals and that
an ‘open classroom’ culture is
vital: having the opportunity to
plan, prepare, reflect and teach
with other teachers... [and yet]
two-thirds of all professional
development is ‘passive learning’
– sitting and listening to a
presentation.
DfE, 2010

36. Computing at School: Hubs

40. Some CAS research questions
● How should we teach programming to children?
● How effective are “unplugged” approaches to learning
computer science?
● How should we assess computing?
● Does an early education in computing improve outcomes
in Maths or English?
● How can computational thinking skills enrich learning in
maths, science, and other subjects?
● In what order are computational concepts best learned?
● Women are massively under-represented in computing.
What practical strategies help?

42. @mberry
m.berry@roehampton.ac.uk
milesberry.net
computingatschool.org.uk
These slides: bit.ly/emadrid
Questions?