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Part 1
The nursery rhyme Humpty Dumpty could be used as a prompt for a lesson to promote computational thinking in an infant classroom.
Having listened to, and recited the nursery rhyme Humpty Dumpty, the children could be challenged with the task of creating a wall for Humpty Dumpty to sit on.
In this unplugged activity the children will work in groups and using materials provided, collaboratively build a wall structure that can support humpty – hopefully so that he does not fall off again!
The materials choices are plentiful – lego, wooden bricks, straws, polydrons or paper cups.
The children will be encouraged to design a wall that is strong and tall and to consult with their peers on what will be the best approach.
The teacher could use a Humpty Dumpty soft toy to assess the wall structures.
Extension activities like creating a jigsaw of Humpty Dumpty out of card, could also be used to promote collaborative learning and development of problem-solving skills. And discussions of pattern could also follow this challenge and the children could be encouraged to identify patterns in their structures.
Part 2 – Reflective Piece
The article “The State of the Field of Computational Thinking in Early Childhood Education” by Bers, Strawhacker, and Sullivan (2022) highlights the significance of engaging children at a young age in the field of computational thinking taking. The early years are considered crucial to engage children in this type of learning due to their natural curiosity and willingness to learn and computational skills should be treated no differently.
The report identifies the benefits of computational thinking on not only the child’s cognitive behavior but also their social and emotional skills. I was surprised by the statistic that children can have twice as many social interactions in front of a computer than when they are doing other activities (Svensson, 2000)
The report highlights how children can use CT to learn across many subject areas, creating connections and consolidating learning made in more traditional formats. It also stresses the importance of CT reflecting our society in a true and equitable way, without exclusion. Ensuring all children, irrespective of gender, race or background, have access to CT learning will help create more diverse voices in this arena in the future.
In terms of how school can effectively integrate CT into teaching practices, the key for me is getting the staff on board and promoting a positive culture around the use of technology. Engaging in training, working as teams, student and staff mentors – all help to showcase the benefits of this learning.
This lesson is designed for Junior Infants and it is using STEM activities to develop greater understanding of the theme of people who help us. This lesson uses Beebots as a learning tool, but it could be adapted to work with other coding devices like the Sphero Indy.
In this lesson the children are working in groups. The teacher will give a scenario to the class in which Beebot requires help from someone in the community. However Beebot doesn’t know who to go to visit in town to help them, so the class must help them make a decision. Working as teams the children must decide where Beebot needs to go and then create a code to get Beebot their safely.
This lesson whilst deeping understanding of professionals in the community also encourages STEM skills like communication, digital literacy and critical thinking.
The lesson that I have attached is designed for use with an infant class. The lesson is based on the theme of people who help us and uses Beebots as a learning tool. The teacher will present various scenarios to the class in which their Beebot will need help from someone in the town. The children will first have to identify who is needed to help Beebot and then programme Beebot to get to their location.
This could be adapted to any age group, or could be supported by an alternative coding device like the Sphero Indy. The lesson encourages collaborative learning, critical thinking and digital literacy skills whilst developing a greater understanding of the role of people who help us.
Digital tools are a fantastic means of creating engaging and interactive learning experiences in our classrooms. Even the youngest of our students are arriving at school familiar with digital tools such as tablets, and their enthusiasm and confidence when using IT tool means they need little persuasion to engage in the set work.
Digital tools are part of our student’s world and when we use them to support learning, we are also ensuring that our classrooms reflect the modern society we live in. In so doing the learning is relevant, meaningful and exciting whilst promoting skills like critical thinking, teamwork, digital literacy and collaborative learning. The adaptive nature of technology also ensure that our learning is inclusive and caters to the unique needs of all our students.
The SSE framework definitely helps improve teaching in this area as it reminds us to reflect and assess and keep updated with the ever-evolving role IT can play in our schools. It also ensures that our digital plan isn’t over-reliant on one particular approach, but rather incorporates a variety of methodologies that are used across multiple curricular areas.
I strongly feel that engagement of staff in professional development is crucial to leading digital learning in schools. In my experience there is still hesitancy and fear amongst some staff to engage with IT. Creating a digital team in our school has allowed us to promote a positive culture of digital learning in the school whilst spreading the workload of supporting staff with their concerns and questions.