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Hi Rebecca,
Space Catcher is a great fit for a timed catch game and I really like how naturally it links to your Science objective.
I especially liked how you adjusted the speed and spawn rate by trial and error until the game played well. That is a lovely example of iteration, that cycle of making a change, testing it and refining until it feels right.
One small suggestion to strengthen the learning link. You could ask children to predict what will happen if they make the asteroids fall faster, then let them change the value and test whether their prediction was right.
Hi Rachel,
Teddy Catch is a gorgeous idea for young children. A friendly teddy on a bright playground catching hearts and stars is instantly appealing and I love that you built in good and bad items since that gives the children real pattern recognition to do as they play. Your curriculum links are lovely and clear too especially the way you have mapped sequencing and cause and effect onto what actually happens on screen.
I had a play of your game and it is not quite running yet which is honestly the perfect situation for the debugging process you listed. My best suggestion is to head back into the tutorial and rebuild it in stages. You could follow the steps one at a time and test as you go, open the finished code slide and compare it to yours block by block or watch the video tutorial for the catch style game and pause as you build. Any of those three will help you spot exactly where it is getting stuck and you will have a working game at the end.
Hi Rebecca,
Really strong reflection to read. Using digital tools across literacy, maths and SESE and tying them back to the curriculum is a genuine strength and the fact that you happily trial new tools keeps your practice fresh.
I like your area to develop. Moving from using tech to support teaching into using it for assessment is where it starts to give you something back because you get a clear read on where the children are. I especially like that you have thought about pupils reflecting on their own learning since that is often where the deepest thinking happens.
Your action to use a digital assessment tool once a week for six weeks feels really realistic. That clear timeframe gives you a proper run at it rather than a one-off try.
One question to help you focus. When you use, for example, those quizzes or polls, would it help to decide in advance what you will do with the results, say revisiting a tricky concept the next day if lots of children miss it? That closes the loop from checking understanding to acting on it and those decisions make lovely evidence for SSE.
Looking forward to seeing how you get on with the rest of the course. 🙂
Hi Michaela,
Fish and Bubbles is such a lovely theme for a timed catch game and I really like how neatly it fits your Science objective.
I loved that you chose debugging as your computational thinking process because that is exactly where I want to point you next. I had a play of your game and there are still a couple of bugs to iron out which is honestly perfect for this task since it gives you a real bit of debugging to do. A couple of things I noticed that might help.
For your score, you have made your own variable however, there are ready-made score blocks in the Info category of the toolbox that will save you a step and update automatically when the fish collects a bubble. The other thing is the projectile block you have used is not quite the right one and that is one of the reasons the game is not behaving as you expect.
My best suggestion is to head back into the module and open the slide with the finished example code, then compare it to yours block by block. That side by side check is a really effective way to spot exactly where things differ and you will have a fully working game at the end of it.
Hi Felicity,
What a rich reflection to read. The STEAM culture you have built is a real strength and it is clear you are making the most of being in a small school. Those monthly mixed-age sessions are lovely and bringing stop-motion and filmmaking into the Egg Drop Challenge shows you are already blending creativity and problem-solving in a natural way.
Your area to develop is a sharp piece of noticing. Spotting that the children were drawn to the creative elements more than the problem-solving underneath is exactly the kind of insight that moves practice forward and your instinct to build the thinking first through unplugged activities is great.
Your action to include one unplugged activity each monthly session feels really realistic. You already have the structure in place, so you are threading computational thinking through something that is running anyway rather than adding a whole new thing to the calendar.
One question to help you focus. For your action about pupils explaining how they solved and debugged problems, would it help to give them a shared language for it, say a few prompt cards asking what went wrong, what they tried and what they changed? That makes their thinking visible and easy to capture for SSE.
Looking forward to seeing how you get on with the rest of the course. 🙂
Hi Rachel,
This is such a lovely fit for Junior Infants. Flashing Heart is a great starting point for computational thinking because the on and off pattern gives the children their very first feel for sequence and repetition without them needing to read a word. They just see that the code makes something happen which is exactly the right level of understanding at that age.
I really like how playful and hands-on you have kept the whole thing. The heartbeat link is gorgeous and getting them to feel their own heart after a lap of the astro turf turns an abstract idea into something real and meaningful to them.
Really enjoyed this one. 🙂
Hi Aine,
Lovely to read this and you can really feel your enthusiasm for the tools coming through. A clear strength here is how confidently you already use digital technology to communicate whether that is presentations for staff or quizzes that keep the pupils engaged. That ease with the tools is a great foundation to build on.
I like your area to develop. Feedback and assessment is where digital tools can help save time while giving you a clearer picture of where the children are, so it is well worth growing your confidence there.
Your plan to use Microsoft Forms to check understanding feels really realistic, especially as you can start small with one topic and build from there. I like that you have linked it to both SSE and the DEIS plan too because the same piece of work is feeding a few things at once rather than being an extra job.
Looking forward to seeing how you get on with the rest of the course. 🙂
Hi Clodagh,
Please watch the MakeCode Arcade website tour video in the module or follow the steps below to share your MakeCode Arcade project link:
- Open your project in MakeCode Arcade.
- Select the Share icon in the top-right corner.
- Add a title for your project.
- You can also add a thumbnail image or animated GIF, but this is optional.
- Select Share Project.
- Copy the link that appears and paste it into your forum post.
Please note that this link is anonymous and is not connected to your MakeCode account. Make sure to copy or save the link, as it cannot be recovered if it is lost.
The link is also a snapshot of your project at the time you share it. If you make any changes afterwards, you will need to create and share a new link with the updated version.
Anonymous share links cannot normally be deleted or unpublished.
Hi Clodagh,
Please watch the video of the micro:bit website tour in the module or follow the steps below to share your micro:bit project link:
- Open your project in MakeCode.
- Select the Share icon in the top-right corner.
- Add a title for your project.
- You can also add a thumbnail image or animated GIF, but this is optional.
- Select Share Project.
- Copy the link that appears and paste it into your forum post.
Please note that this link is anonymous and is not connected to your MakeCode account. Make sure to copy or save the link, as it cannot be recovered if it is lost.
The link is also a snapshot of your project at the time you share it. If you make any changes afterwards, you will need to create and share a new link with the updated version.
Anonymous share links cannot normally be deleted or unpublished.
Hi Clodagh,
This is a thoughtful reflection and your focus on inclusion really comes through. A clear strength here is how intentionally you vary the way you present information. Using interactive whiteboard activities, videos, visuals and online resources side by side shows you are already thinking about different learners in the room which is right at the core of what the learner experiences dimension is reaching for.
Your area to develop is a lovely choice because accessibility technology is one of those things that quietly makes a huge difference for the learners who need it. The fact that you already know the tools means you are really just building the habit of reaching for them.
Your action to build in one accessibility feature each week feels genuinely realistic. It is small and repeatable which is what will make it stick and pairing it with your monthly reflection means you will actually see the impact over time rather than guessing at it.
One thought to help you focus. When you record what worked each month, would it help to note which pupils benefited and how, example a learner with EAL using translation? That turns your reflection into concrete evidence which would be really useful if your school looked at inclusion or digital learning as an SSE focus.
Looking forward to seeing how you get on with the rest of the course. 🙂
Hi Deirdre,
I love this tutorial. Clap Lights is great for computational thinking because it encourages learners to think in terms of cause and effect. The micro:bit keeps checking a condition and only acts when the sound crosses the threshold, so pupils get a clear, tangible feel for inputs, conditionals and variables.
Your STEM links are strong and I especially like the energy and environment angle. One way to strengthen it would be to give the code a real purpose, say designing a clap-activated light for a cupboard or hallway that saves energy. That turns it into a genuine solution and pulls the engineering design process right in.
Really enjoyed looking at this one. 🙂
Hi Orla,
Really enjoyed reading this. A clear strength here is how purposefully you already use digital technologies to inform teaching and strengthen learning. You are clearly making the most of the resources your school has and framing them around meaningful, active learning sits at the very heart of the learner experiences dimension.
I liked that your reflection kept coming back to those bigger questions, what do I want the children to learn and how will this develop skills for lifelong learning. Holding onto that purpose is what stops technology becoming an add-on and it will serve you well as you bring in more computational thinking.
Your action to embed unplugged activities across different subjects feels realistic and well focused. Starting with something like the Irish activity is a lovely way in, because it shows the children that CT is a way of thinking and not just a STEM or device task.
One question to help you focus. Would it help to pick one CT process to start with, so you have a clear thing to notice when the children work? That would also give you some specific evidence to draw on for SSE later.
Looking forward to seeing how you get on with the rest of the course. 🙂
Hi Jennifer,
Really enjoyed this. A clear strength here is how deliberately you choose your digital tools. Picking activities that support the lesson rather than reaching for technology just because it is there shows real intent and it is exactly the kind of purposeful use the learner experiences dimension is looking for. It makes sense that engagement goes up too because the device is adding something to the learning and not just sitting alongside it.
Your instinct to move towards more collaborative and creative tools feels like a natural next step from where you already are. You have the purposeful mindset in place, so widening the range of tools is really just building on a strong foundation.
One thought to help you focus. Since your area to develop is quite broad, would it help to pick just one or two collaborative tools to trial when you go back to school and set a small measurable goal, say using one creative tool across three lessons and noting how pupils respond? That would give you something specific to observe and some early evidence for SSE.
Looking forward to seeing how you get on with the rest of the course. 🙂
Hi Michaela,
This is a lovely, well thought out reflection. A real strength here is how clearly you connect computational thinking to what you are already doing. Framing collaborative problem-solving in Maths, STEM and play as CT in action shows you understand it as a way of thinking and not just a coding activity which is exactly the shift Module 1 is encouraging.
Your action to include one CT activity each week feels genuinely realistic. It is small and consistent, which is what makes it sustainable. Also, spreading it across Maths, Science and Gaeilge helps children see problem-solving as something that lives everywhere.
I also love your idea of sharing one successful activity with colleagues each term. That is such a generous, whole-school way to think about it and those discussions are often where real momentum builds across a staff.
One question to help you focus. When you record pupils’ work, would it help to note which CT process each activity draws on, say decomposition, pattern recognition, abstraction, algorithms, debugging or iteration? That way your SSE evidence shows range across the processes and not just frequency.
Looking forward to seeing how you get on with the rest of the course. 🙂
Hi Cassandra,
Really enjoyed reading this. Your existing practice is stronger than you might be giving yourself credit for. Introducing block coding through Scratch and having children build research projects on iPads shows you are already creating rich learner experiences which sits right at the heart of that LAOS domain.
I thought your honesty about computational thinking was a strength in itself. Naming something as a genuine gap is exactly the kind of reflective practice that SSE is built on and it gives you a clear focus to work from.
Your plan to start with one lesson and set a clear outcome feels really realistic to me. It keeps things manageable and gives you something specific to observe against, so you are not trying to change everything at once.
One thought to build on your observation idea. It might help to pick one CT process to look for first, say decomposition or pattern recognition, so you know exactly what you are noticing when you watch the children work. Those observation notes could also become useful evidence if your school ever chose STEM as an SSE focus down the line.
Looking forward to seeing how you get on with the rest of the course. 🙂
