PGCE slides

1. Computing
An introduction
EV681
University of Brighton, School of Education

3. Starter activity
I
In pairs discuss the activity you carried out
and think about the following questions:
How did the children respond?
What strategies did you use to support their
learning?
How does this link to the Plowman or
Stephens?
How does this support the ELGs of the EYFS?

4. Programming
with Daisy the
Dinosaur
Open the Daisy the Dinosaur app
on your iPad (swipe down to
search).
Work through as many of the
challenges as you can.
As you work, think about which
aspects of the task children aged
5-7 might find most challenging.

5. By the end of today’s session you should…
● Be familiar with the expectations for the teaching of computer science
at Key Stage 1
● Be able to understand the term algorithm
● Understand the term debug and know the difference between syntax
errors and logic bugs
● Know what is meant by the term logical reasoning
● Be familiar with simple block-based programming and be able to
create simple sequences of instructions to achieve a specific outcome
Intended Learning Outcomes

6. The National Curriculum Programmes of Study for computing state that
children at Key Stage 1 should be taught to:
● understand what algorithms are; how they are implemented as programs
on digital devices; and that programs execute by following precise and
unambiguous instructions
● create and debug simple programs
● use logical reasoning to predict the behaviour of simple programs
Computer Science at Key Stage 1

7. An algorithm is a sequence of
precise and unambiguous
instructions that are followed in
order to achieve a specific
outcome.
What is an
algorithm?
Learn more >

8. Debugging is the process of
finding and correcting errors in a
computer program.
Learn more >
What is
debugging?

9. Logical reasoning is the process
of applying rules to problem
solving.
Learn more >
What is logical
reasoning?

10. ScratchJr
In pairs, work your way through the
‘Spooky Forest’ Hour of Code Activity
(see handout)
See also link here

11. “The core of computing is computer science”
Information
Technology
Digital Literacy
Computer
Science
DFE, National Curriculum

12. “A high-quality computing education
equips pupils to use computational
thinking and creativity to understand
and change the world.”
—DfE, National Curriculum

13. What is computational thinking?

14. –JanCuny,LarrySnyder,andJeannetteWing
“Computational thinking is the thought
processes involved in formulating
problems and their solutions so that the
solutions are represented in a form that
can effectively be carried out by an
information-processing agent.”

15. Abstraction
Logical reasoning Generalisation
Decomposition
Pattern recognition Algorithmic thinking
Computational thinking

16. How is this computing?
Watch the ‘unplugged’ activity at the link below. Think
about how this relates to the National Curriculum content
for computing at KS1 (shown in the previous slide).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2zVpWu1i5qM

17. Subject content for KS2
:
• design, write and debug programs that accomplish specific
goals, including controlling or simulating physical systems; solve
problems by decomposing them into smaller parts
• use sequence, selection, and repetition in programs; work with
variables and various forms of input and output
• use logical reasoning to explain how some simple algorithms
work and to detect and correct errors in algorithms and
programs

18. Sequence, repetition & selection
“use sequence, selection, and repetition in programs”
- Subject content KS2
Sequence: putting instructions in an order where each one is executed one after the other
Repetition: one or more instructions are repeated a number of times or until a condition is
met or the program is stopped
Selection: instructions are executed depending on whether a particular condition is met

19. Scratch: Hungry
Monkey 1
http://scratch.mit.edu/projects/23390
939/
Can you make the monkey sprite
move left and right when the left and
right arrow keys are pressed? When
you have completed the task use
‘Add comment’ (right click) to explain
how ‘repetition’ and ‘selection’ are
used in the programming structure.
Save to your profile.

20. Scratch: Hungry
Monkey 2
http://scratch.mit.edu/projects/23390
750/
Can you make the monkey jump to
catch the bananas? You will have to
use a ‘wait block’ somewhere in the
algorithm. Add a comment to explain
the importance of ‘sequence’ in the
algorithm you create. Save this to
your profile.

21. Variables
“work with variables” - Subject content KS2
Variables are containers for data. They enable us to
store, retrieve or change data. A variable could be used
in a game to keep track of a user’s score or to remember
a player’s name.

22. Scratch: Hungry
Monkey 3 http://scratch.mit.edu/projects/23390
032/
Can you make the bananas
disappear when the monkey touches
them and the score board work to
keep track of the number of bananas
monkey has caught? Add a comment
to explain how sequence is important
when placing the variable blocks (see
opposite) into the algorithm.

23. Readings
Berry, M (2014) Computing in the national curriculum: A
guide for primary teachers. Available
http://www.computingatschool.org.uk/data/uploads/CASPri
maryComputing.pdf
Chapter 8 ‘Programming and computational thinking’ in
Turvey, K. Potter, J. Burton, J. (2016) Primary Computing
and Digital Technologies; Knowledge, Understanding and
Practice, London: Sage, Learning Matters.