In the sixth episode in our reboot of the TeachNet Podcast series, Pat Brennan is joined by Jennifer McGarry, Primary Teacher and Weave Project Coordinator to talk about this collaboration between DCU, SETU Carlow, PDST, Arizona State University and Science Foundation Ireland which aims to increase student awareness at Primary of the different ways that coding, computational thinking, and computer science can be used in the world today.
Over the course of the discussion, Jennifer charts the journey the nine primary schools in Dublin and Carlow have been on over the past 18 months, what lies ahead for the remainder of this academic year and plans to ensure project sustainability in the years ahead. She details how throughout the project, teachers and students have worked together to develop resources and activities that will lead to the development of a computational thinking framework for Irish primary schools. Also, how students have been encouraged to develop a critical eye and to question the application of new technologies in today’s world. and through the ‘lens of cultural responsiveness’ are challenged to devise a solution to local problems that they have identified. Students then use Lego WeDo and Spike Kits to construct their solution and ultimately bring their projects to life using block code.
You can follow the project on twitter @weaveproject and for further information contact Jennifer at jennifer.mcgarry@dcu.ie.