STEM BURSARY
Miss Freda Aiken
RegentHouseSchool
Introduction of programming skills to Y8.
FINAL REPORT
- Professional development activity undertaken, including how the need was identified.
My involvement with Momentum made me aware of the skills required by today’s ICT industry. Students, while they have basic ICT skills, do not in general study programming. We offer both Computing and ICT at A level, so a few pupils are gaining programming skills. I planned to introduce a GCSE in Computing in September 2010 (OCR pilot) so that pupils were better prepared for A level Computing. The new CCEA GCSE ICT specification has a Games Technology unit which can include programming skills. As my professional development activity I planned to introduce an element of this in the JuniorSchool by introducing a series of games programming lessons into my Year 8 ICT scheme. Introducing these lessons will mean that all pupils will have some experience in programming and will be able to make informed choices regarding GCSE and GCE.
- The outcomes in terms of improved practice by the teacher.
As a result of my research into resources available for introducing younger pupils to programming I have increased my subject knowledge, understanding and expertise. I have developed skills in developing games at this level and feel confident in extending these skills to successfully implement the Games Technology unit of the new GCSE ICT specification 2011-12.
I also realised that Scratch was capable of many powerful computing constructs e.g. parallel execution, which is difficult for pupils to grasp theoretically. I could use this as a demonstration in Y14.
I have also joined some on-line forums/communities in particular CAS (Computing at School This is made up of teachers, parents, governors, exam boards, industry, professional societies, and universities who speak for the discipline of computing at school level. It is a subject association for computing teachers and its focus is Computing rather than ICT. It provides materials and supports the development of the subject. e.g. the introduction of the GCSE Computing pilot. It is linked to the British Computer Society (BCS).
- The outcomes or benefits of the activity in terms of improvements in pupils learning experiences.
The Y8 classes enjoyed this set of lessons. They were motivated as they found this activity more closely related to what they liked to use computers for. They were engaged in the activity and enjoyed the colourful and interactive nature of the software. They were willing to ask how to make the sprites perform certain actions and were willing to try a number of times until they achieved what they wanted. Their problem solving, debugging and perseverance skills were improved because they knew what they wanted to achieve and were prepared to try to make that happen. They were able to experiment with different instructions to achieve their solution. It introduced them to reading program code.
- How the success of the professional development activity has been / will be evaluated.
Initially I piloted two sets of lessons, Scratch and GameMaker, with my GCSE Computing class who had spent a number of weeks programming in Visual Basic. This allowed me to see how pupils with some programming skills found using the software. Most found GameMaker more difficult and thought it took much longer to produce a working game. However one was very enthusiastic and borrowed Basic Projects in Game Maker ISBN 9781905292578 to experiment with at home. In general they preferred Scratch, although they thought some of the tasks would be too difficult for Y8. Based on this I decided to use Scratch and modified the lessons. The more difficult tasks will be used in Y11 ICT and perhaps as differentiated tasks in Y8.
The activity has been successful in that
-The pupils have responded positively to the set of lessons. They found it an enjoyable activity. Some appreciated how much coding would be required to create a ‘real’ game.
-The pupils have had experience in a problem solving activity in a different context.
-Personally I am now able to create games in Scratch and GameMaker and now feel confident that I have acquired the skills needed for GCSE ICT to enable me to deliver staff training, implement the lessons and prepare the pupils for the controlled task.
-The activity will also be evaluated through PRSD.
-Long term
- I will be able to evaluate how including the lessons in Y8 will affect the GCSE classes. In the intervening years Y11 will have to complete the Y8 lessons to bring them up to the standard required.
- I hope to see an improvement in GCSE and GCE results.
- I hope to see increased numbers taking the subject.
- How the experiences, skills and knowledge gained have been / will be shared with other teachers.
After evaluating the lessons with a Y11 and a Y8 class I organised staff training for the teachers involved in the Y8 ICT program. These teachers are not ICT specialists, but all teach science subjects. They appreciated the skills being taught and found the materials easy to use. I amended the materials in light of the training.
The lesson plans developed for the Y8 ICT classes will be used for staff training with the members of the Department who are involved in teaching GCSE ICT. These tasks and extensions will be delivered to Y11 in June 2011 as preparation for controlled assessment in Y12.
- Reflection by the teacher on the value and effectiveness of the activity.
Pupils enjoy playing computer games. As a result they were highly motivated by this activity. The activity was valuable as they were using problem solving skills in a context they enjoyed. It captured their imagination and because of the graphics and drag-and-drop interface proved to be an enjoyable introduction to programming. It gave pupils a sense of achievement when they were able to put together the instructions they needed to move the sprites in the way required. It was a good example of active learning.
I intend to embed these activities into the scheme of work for future years and now that teachers have some experience using the software intend to extend the lessons.
I now have the skills to deliver the games technology unit at GCSE, having piloted the lessons with different year groups and delivered staff training.
It has given me an understanding of the capabilities of the different pieces of software and has enabled me to choose the one most suitable for the pupils at present. As time progresses this will need reviewed.
The bursary gave me the time to research and experiment with different pieces of software. I was able to evaluate their capabilities and how they run on the school networks. I was able to develop an element of programming in Y8. This is something I am particularly interested in. I now have programming skills in the Y8 scheme which will be a preparation for both GCSE and GCE Computing and ICT including the proposal that the new CCEA ICT specification (2013) is to include an element of programming.
- Future plans / suggestions for further development.
-The Scratch lesson plans developed for the Y8 ICT classes will be used for staff training with the members of the Department who are involved in teaching GCSE ICT. These tasks and extensions will be delivered to Y11 in June 2011 as a preliminary preparation for the controlled assessment task in Y12.
-The skills learned will enable me to prepare a sample task for the controlled task in Y12.
-Schemes of work – Y8, Y11 and Y12 need to be amended to incorporate these lessons.
-Further evaluation of resources at the following websites
- [a link from Lero - The Irish Software Engineering Research Centre -
-Further consideration of GameMaker.
-Using PowerPoint to create a multiple choice quiz.
-Attendance at any relevant INSET courses.
-Explore the use of Logo/ Starlogo
-Explore the use of Small Basic [free download from Microsoft - based on .NET and therefore could be easily applied to other .NET programming languages like Visual Basic.
-Google App Inventor for Android phones. The method for doing this is closely related to the Scratch programming language.
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