How to build an outstanding computer science curriculum

How to build an outstanding computer science curriculum MARK DORLING MATTHEW WALKER

Calling all teachers… What does curriculum mean to you? What does creativity mean to you? What is your vision of a creative curriculum? CAS CONFERENCE 2013

Outcomes Develop a department vision, overcoming challenges Demonstrate progression through the key stages and effectively scaffold learning Creative computing lessons from example schemes of work CAS CONFERENCE 2013

Challenges Curriculum that is inclusive – no child left behind Curriculum that is creative but thorough Confidence in aligning and interpreting the Computing curriculum Understanding the technicalities of the curriculum Showing progression How to integrate CS, IT and DL into a single scheme of work Developing a vision for your curriculum CAS CONFERENCE 2013

Correctly interpreting the curriculum Digital literacy National ICT Curriculum Statuary document Computer CS Science Digital literacy CAS CONFERENCE 2013 IT Information Technology Subject Association Teacher guides Non- statuary document A School’s curriculum planning

Interpreting the KS 1 curriculum CAS CONFERENCE 2013

Computing is non-linear ‘Dorling Curriculum Map of Computing’ available September 2013 CAS CONFERENCE 2013

Options for September 2013 To do nothing… that is an option! To integrate one or two lesson of Computer Science into existing Digital Literacy (DL) and Information Technology (IT) schemes of work. To plan a half term or term CS So. W for year 7 and then roll out a So. W to each year group year on year. To plan a half term or term CS So. W for each year group. To (initially) plan a term or two term curriculum that integrates DL with CS year 7 only. Complete restructuring of all schemes of work CAS CONFERENCE 2013

Mark’s model for September 2012 Why are we focusing on KS 2 CS in September? Resources KS 3 KS 2 Extra curricular clubs DSH Curriculum Term 1 Advanced functional IT embedded into a creative curriculum underpinned by computing Enrichment Curriculum After GCSE Y 10/11 GCSE Computing Y 8/9 GCSE IT KS 4 Y 10/11 AS Level ICT CAS CONFERENCE 2013 • Scratch Ed • Kodu EPL • App. Shed Academy • Code Academy • Industry collaborations Term 2 & 3 Basic functional IT Skills KS 4 • SSAT Hack resources • CS Unplugged • CAS Online • CS 4 FN • Greenfoot/Alice Curriculum KS 2/3/4 National Curriculum Df. E

Matthew’s model for September 2012 Enquiry-based KS 3 curriculum (all a combination of DL, IT and CS) Leads to KS 4 Option in GCSE Computer Science Year 7 Year 8 Why is Facebook successful? How do computers think? How can I make an unbreakable code? Can I teach a machine to think? Why are video games fun? Year 9 What can my pet robot do? GCSE Computer Science (option) Who owns my information? How can I make pigs fly? How does Google work? How can I make a mobile app? Will computers take over the world? All students have one lesson a week IT in year 10. Department ‘vision’ School curriculum policy Student consultation CAS CONFERENCE 2013 KS 4 Year 10 IT (mandatory, one lesson per week)

Strategies Have strategies for managing the transition Engage other staff, network managers, SLT, students, parents Know considerations when making decisions like choosing programming languages Have ideas for raising the profile of computing in your school Know where to get help with clubs Know where to get affordable and quality CPD CAS CONFERENCE 2013

Subject Knowledge Challenges Computer Science is more than just programming What is computational thinking? How do I develop in my staff and students a rich understanding of how the principals and concepts all link together? How do I teach programming and coding? How do I assess programming code? CAS CONFERENCE 2013

Bridging IT and CS IT & DL (Driving the car) tools Computer Science (Engineering the car) Computational Thinking (Adapting the car for a given circuit) CAS CONFERENCE 2013 ep ts ap Co nc g& Re s ali zin ms on i lut ble So Pro ply ing Social need

Algorithms & Programming We want to make models of the world to: ◦ understand it ◦ ask ‘what if’ questions and predict the way it will change Model How do we make models? How do we turn models into programs? ◦ write programs by programming ◦ programming bridges models and computers Are they separate or inextricably linked? CAS CONFERENCE 2013 Pr ed ict io ns Pr og ◦ by characterising a problem ◦ mapping the abstractions of a conceptual model ◦ choosing appropriate technology ra m ◦ solving problems

Every year and at every level CAS CONFERENCE 2013

Implications of the double hump (achievement bimodality) Many students (and staff) think the subject is too hard Progression is seriously hindered Lesson planning and seeing through schemes of work become a major headache Measurable underachievement at KS 3, GCSE and A-Level Success is enjoyable CAS CONFERENCE 2013

One voice from university “Why is it that some software engineers and computer scientists are able to produce clear, elegant designs and programs, while others cannot? Is it possible to improve these skills through education and training? ” Kramer, 2007 CAS CONFERENCE 2013

What are we asking students to do? 1. Abstract the problem from its description 2. Generate subproblems This represents the most abstract level of Piagetian abstraction – formal operational reasoning 3. Transform subproblems into subsolutions 4. Recompose 5. Evaluate and iterate CAS CONFERENCE 2013

Neo. Piagetian levels of abstraction Lowest Sensorimotor inconsistent results Low Preoperational direct manipulation of the environment little thought about relationships between objects focus on one abstract property at a time working knowledge is overwhelmed High Concrete Operation abstractions restricted to familiar, real situations no hypothetical reasoning Highest Formal Operational form links between abstract properties CAS CONFERENCE 2013 infer hypotheses with limited or missing data rely on chunked long-term memory

Neo. Piagetian levels of abstraction application to programming skills Lowest Sensorimotor can trace code with <50% accuracy Low Preoperational can manually execute code and determine values in variables when execution is finished research indicates >50% accuracy in this skill needed before students can begin to understand how to code High Concrete Operation can ‘reverse’ solutions conserve meaning when program specification is changed Highest Formal Operational decomposition CAS CONFERENCE 2013 creating solutions debugging

Sensorimotor stage and magic “Without the ability to reliably produce consistent results via tracing, novices at the sensorimotor stage see code as somewhat magical. That is, they do not experience an executing program as a deterministic machine. ” Ahadi et al, 2012 CAS CONFERENCE 2013

Abstraction informing learning Teach in a way that encourages students to develop their ability to reason under abstractions “…students who tend to reason preoperationally about code will gain little from being forced to write large quantities of code. Such students can only write code by quasi-random mutation. For students who are predominantly reasoning at the preoperational level… we need to develop new types of learning experiences that develop their abstract reasoning without requiring them to write a lot of code. ” Lister, 2011 Computational Thinking CAS CONFERENCE 2013

Reducing abstraction Students reframe abstractions in concrete form “…students, when facing the need to cope meaningfully with concepts that are too abstract for them, tend to reduce the level of abstraction in order to make these abstract concepts meaningful and mentally accessible… by dealing with specific examples instead of with a whole set defined in general terms. ” Hazzan, 2008 CAS CONFERENCE 2013

Develop the ability to make design decisions Directed learning Designing WITHOUT making Lots of choice Little choice Making WITHOUT designing Autonomous learning Diagram Source: David Bartlex, Roehampton University Designing AND making The balance is dependent on a number of factors: • The SKUAE of the pupils • The SKUAE of your staff SKUA = Skills, Knowledge, Understanding, Attitudes and experience CAS CONFERENCE 2013

Make it less abstract! Why use real life problems AND use a graphical programming tool? Easier to create meaningful questions for assessment Easier for students to create drawings that represent the execution of a program Simpler for students to investigate models Simpler for students to adapt, reason and create models Data is not hidden so inspection is simpler Avoid simulations in Scratch – this can make it more abstract rather than less! CAS CONFERENCE 2013

Assessing Programming Code Does it appear to work? Does it really work? ◦ rigour of testing, range of data/input Originality of code ◦ has a student artfully/skilfully reworked known examples or created something less impressive but original (levels of abstraction)? Features versus bugs Looking at the code ◦ layout, comments, structure, logical errors, genuine understanding Meeting the specification CAS CONFERENCE 2013

Looking at programming code BY JOHN BY MAX Turnham Green and Acton Town Where Air Raid huddles laid them down. Neasden, Willesden, Dollis Hill, Tottenham Hale and Hearty, still. Thank you London Underground. I sat down on the tube. It was noisy and dirty. I wanted to get home. Tea was at 5. 30. Mum would be waiting Always asking questions. The tube was my time. For making up destinations. And all your staff, who get me round. I still find it astounding how deep you are. When you are off, we’re off on rants We cram the bus And as we crawl like ants upon the surface… I like the tube cus it is cool. I don't like poems. then we know The rich resource that’s down below. CAS CONFERENCE 2013

Which programming language & environment Scaffold the learning of computational thinking Allow for inspection of variables and data structures Consider skills and experience of staff Languages currently in vogue: ◦ ◦ ◦ ◦ Python TNGLogo Small Basic PHP Scratch/BYOB/Panther VB Greenfoot (Java) CAS CONFERENCE 2013

Balanced curriculum summary Programming isn’t hard when you know how to solve a problem! Some languages’ syntax and tools are more impenetrable than others Obsession of “which language” often gets in the way of problem solving Focus on designing without making… but this isn’t to say that you shouldn’t use programming model solutions along side problem solving Ensure, whatever language you choose, you have a plan for progression (that is more than a tick sheet of language features) You can never create problems that are scalable enough for children to solve CAS CONFERENCE 2013

Vision vs reality Does our reality of a creative curriculum look different to your vision for a Creative Curriculum? Honest reflection: To what extent do you think the following affects how we (as teachers) design our curriculums? ◦ My preferred learning styles… ◦ My areas of expertise, e. g. subject specialism… ◦ My life experiences… If you were to teach someone else curriculum would it still be creative? CAS CONFERENCE 2013

Sample lessons taken from our schemes of work CAS CONFERENCE 2013

Dinosaurs day out… CAS CONFERENCE 2013

Police, Camera and Action! BREAKING NEWS: Car chase on streets of French town CAS CONFERENCE 2013

The binary behind algorithms Efficiency of algorithms: Opt 1: 01, 11, 01, 11 = 10 Bits Opt 2: 10, 01, 11 = 8 Bits (10) CAS CONFERENCE 2013 (00) (11)

Can I teach a machine to think? CAS CONFERENCE 2013

A class of code breakers CAS CONFERENCE 2013

Drawing Fractals CAS CONFERENCE 2013

Beautiful numbers How do these grab you? 3. 1416 6. 238673? 1. 61803399? Can you spot the pattern? 0, 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21 “Wow… Improves proportion In art and teaches recursion!” CAS CONFERENCE 2013

Why is Facebook successful? CAS CONFERENCE 2013

Get with the algo-rhythm CAS CONFERENCE 2013

How can I make pigs fly? CAS CONFERENCE 2013

Scratch to mobile CAS CONFERENCE 2013

Questions CAS CONFERENCE 2013