Teaching Computational Thinking and Coding in Primary Schools

David Morris,Gurmit Uppal,David Wells

• Publisher: Learning Matters
• Year: 2017
• ISBN:
  9781526414670
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Education
• Subtopic: Education Technology

This is a guide to the teaching of computing and coding in primary schools, and an exploration of how children develop their computational thinking. It covers all areas of the National Curriculum for primarycomputing and offers insight into effective teaching. The text considers three strands of computer science, digital literacy and information technology. The teaching of coding is especially challenging for primary teachers, so it highlights learning on this, giving practical examples of how this can be taught. For all areas of the computing curriculum the text also provides guidance on planning age-appropriate activities with step-by-step guides and details of educationally appropriate software and hardware. This bookhelps you to connect what you need to teach with how it can be taught, andopens up opportunities in the new curriculum for creative and imaginative teaching. It also includes the full National Curriculum Programme of Study for Computing, key stages 1 and 2 as a useful reference for trainee teachers.

1 An Introduction to the Computing Curriculum

Learning outcomes

By the end of this chapter you will have:

• developed an introductory understanding of the computing curriculum;

• considered the Information and Communications Technology (ICT) to computing curriculum shift.

Teachers’ Standards

A teacher must:

3. Demonstrate good subject and curriculum knowledge:

• demonstrate a critical understanding of developments in the subject and curriculum areas, and promote the value of scholarship.

Part Two. Personal and professional conduct:

• teachers must have an understanding of, and always act within, the statutory frameworks which set out their professional duties and responsibilities.

(DfE, 2011)

Introduction

This chapter will introduce you to computing in the English primary phase curriculum. It will summarise the historical input of Information Technology (IT) and Information and Communications Technology (ICT), and position computing as a highly important subject in any school’s academic provision. The book you are now beginning to read will offer guidance, support, ideas and tools for implementing, delivering and assessing a successful computing curriculum at Key Stages 1 and 2. Although the computing programmes of study (PoS) are non-statutory in the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS), guidance is given to those teaching this age phase.

September 2014 saw the introduction of the ‘new’ national curriculum in England, including computing (DfE, 2013a). Not all schools, however, are obliged to follow the programmes of study as detailed in this national curriculum. Independent schools, academies and free schools are exempt, although they are expected to provide a broad and balanced curriculum for their pupils. Academies and free schools, for example, must offer English, maths, science, religious education and sex and relationships education. If they have Reception and pre-school pupils, then the Statutory Framework for the Early Years Foundation stage is to be followed (DfE, 2014). All national tests such as Key Stage 2 Standard Attainment Tests (SATs) must also be adhered to. In practice, most of these schools deliver the majority of the national curriculum subjects as set out in the 2014 documentation.

Computing is a new compulsory subject in this latest national curriculum iteration, taught at all phases from Key Stage 1 to Key Stage 4 (ages 5 through to 16). Previously Information and Communications Technology (ICT) was taught in UK primary and secondary schools. This ICT curriculum had been under considerable review prior to 2014, with many industry leaders and academics calling for change. September 2012 saw the ICT programmes of study, attainment targets and associated statutory assessment expectations ‘disapplied’ from the then national curriculum. This removed a programme and subject that the Secretary of State for Education at the time described as too off-putting, too de-motivating, too dull (Gove, 2012). ICT still had to be studied in our schools but teachers were given the freedom to decide their own taught content and not be tied to the national curriculum programme. Computing and computer science are, at the time of writing, the options perceived as the route forward for appropriate academic and vocational engagement in the subject area (DfE, 2015).

What is computing?

The computing curriculum has been ‘disaggregated’ into three clearly defined areas (Morris, 2012) and as a discipline, is made up of the following subject strands: Digital Literacy, Information Technology and computer science (Royal Society, 2012). Digital literacy can be referred to as the knowledge, competence and skills needed to access and use a range of technological devices. Information Technology is the use of computer systems to create, store, process, manipulate and share digital information and data. computer science is the study of the theory behind the technology we now use. It is concerned with how computers, digital equipment and their software work, are implemented, and are designed. It involves the science of programming and computational thinking and as such goes beyond the comparatively simple use and exchange of electronic information that IT and Digital Literacy facilitate. This ‘shift’ represents considerable challenge for many primary teachers, and it is hoped this book will help alleviate some of this challenge for you entering the profession, and demystify computer science as a perceived (too) complex subject to engage with. The purpose of this book is not, therefore, to discuss the Digital Literacy and IT elements of the computing curriculum. Instead, the following chapters will focus on the teaching of computer science and its computational thinking foundations.

A brief history of IT, ICT and CS in our schools

Information Technology and ICT had been an established national curriculum subject for over 20 years, before the introduction and transference to computing took place. The final version of the ICT national curriculum programme of study (PoS), published in 2007, detailed the following skills and processes as required to be learned:

• Finding Information – concerned with solving problems and the ability to collect and search for data and information while judging its value, accuracy, validity, reliability and bias;

• Developing Ideas – creating models and IT systems that make things happen by planning, testing and modifying a sequence of instructions, recognising where a group of instructions needs repeating, and automating frequently-used processes by constructing efficient procedures that are fit for purpose;

• Communicating Information – presenting, exchanging and communicating information safely and responsibly;

• Evaluating – reflecting critically by reviewing, modifying and evaluating work as it is being completed.

(The Qualifications and Curriculum Authority, 2007)

An interesting observation when considering this ‘old’ ICT programme of study, is that it should dispel any myths you might have that ICT was simply about using application software such as word processing and desktop publishing. This is how the curriculum was often interpreted by schools. With this in mind, recent ICT education had arguably focused on the training of office skills (Livingstone and Hope, 2011). However, this was not what the curriculum was designed to do in progressing our pupils’ IT competence and capability.

It can therefore be contended that the previous ICT curriculum was not working for all pupils in maintaining the challenge and progress needed for the twenty-first century (Wells, 2012). Vocational ICT qualifications (in particular) achieved significant outcomes and success at the end of Key Stage 4 for countless pupils. However, many schools were interpreting their ICT curriculum from its lowest level of need (Royal Society, 2012), and using non-specialist teachers to deliver it, meaning appropriate challenge and engagement was not always experienced by our pupils. ‘A’ Level and undergraduate take-up of computer science courses had also declined dramatically in recent years, indicating difficulty in the UK’s ability to sustain its rich heritage as leaders and innovators in the fields of technology and computing. With all this in mind, it would seem relevant and appropriate, therefore, that computing has been introduced as a replacement for what ICT had become in many schools: both to reinvigorate the challenge and rationale of studying within the field (particularly in our more able pupils perhaps) and to meet the growing needs of industry. Clearly, this has more significant implications for secondary school teachers of computing. However, if we are to produce the next generation of programmers and game designers (for example), and encourage a greater take-up of the subject at this level, then there is a clear sense to starting this process with very young children during their primary phase education. It is also worth noting that the science of computational thinking is an excellent cross-curricular and life ‘skill’ for pupils to engage with, as you will hopefully see as you delve further into this book.

The ‘new’ and transformed (2014) computing curriculum aims to ensure all pupils:

• 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, 2013a)

This is broken down into distinct learning expectations and outcomes for each key stage (that will be explored further in subsequent chapters of this book). Computing, although incorporating elements of ICT in its Digital Literacy and IT strands, is therefore a very different subject to what ICT was often interpreted as in schools. Computer science is a more complex area of study than ICT, and as such needs time and effort in developing the skillset to teach these lessons successfully and effectively. The traditional curriculum model of teaching pupils to be users of technology is now at conflict with the need for improved subject and pedagogical knowledge required to teach our children to become creators of computing innovations (Goode et al., 2012). However, this is not something you should fear and we hope this book will help you to see the relevance of the subject and also that it need not be as complicated as you might think! computer science is not this mythical, complex beast many believe it to be – at least it need not be in Key Stages 1 and 2.

Research focus: shut down or restart

The way forward for computing in UK schools?

Launched in January 2012, this report, by the British Computing Society (published by The Royal Society), details the arguments for either shutting ICT down as a curriculum subject, or rebooting it as something different and arguably more relevant for our pupils and the UK economy. The report suggested the terminology reform from ICT to the more distinctive three strands of Digital Literacy, IT and computer science. It also makes further recommendations for how to overhaul the ICT curriculum and why this change was needed. As a starting point for considering the curriculum shift that has been taking place since September 2012, it is highly recommended that you engage with this influential report.

Activity: reflection point

In your opinion:

Where do you position yourself in this curriculum shift from ICT to computing? Was it necessary? Can primary school colleagues meet the demands of the new curriculum for computing? Will schools engage with the computer science strand of the curriculum or err on Digital Literacy and IT?

The need for pedagogic shift and change?

The introduction of computer science as a discipline within computing has caused considerable issues and anxieties for many teachers. Inevitably change often breeds fear and reluctance in people to embrace that change. They are concerned about being able to successfully make the transition from the familiar (ICT) to the new (computer science). They are concerned about the impact on their role and inevitable employment. They struggle to see the arguments and reasons presented for the change because the change is unfamiliar to them. However, the change has happened, and schools and colleagues teaching in them are in a position where they must implement change. With reference to Kurt Lewin’s 1951 change management model, teachers must unfreeze and, with the appropriate driving forces (which this book will hopefully contribute to), teachers will be able to transition successfully and confidently into this ‘unknown’.

As a beginning primary teacher, you are in a position to act as an ‘agent of change’ (and therefore a driving force) in supporting this successful transition in your training schools. The expertise to deliver computing-focused lessons may not exist with many of your primary school colleagues and this will inevitably impact on the school’s ability to provide creative and imaginative computer science lessons. You can help support this and bridge computing ‘capability gaps’ by sharing your own knowledge and expertise, as well as suggesting pedagogy that might be used for successful learning within computing to support the required ‘pedagogic shift’ within this subject.

Research focus: change agents

Stevenson (2008) suggests that a change agent is about identity, understanding people, being self-motivational, patient and living for the future. To complement this, Lu and Ortlieb (2009) suggest change agents are innovators, initiators, creators, convincers and involvers. An agent of change will have a vision that they see as possible to enact. They will be somebody who is empowered to influence others in both purpose and focus (Price and Valli, 2005). Change agents will want to make a difference and are able to inspire transformation (Dunne and Zandstra, 2011). They are origin...