While researching this week's blog topic of case studies/examples of coding and robotics in school, I remembered that LCPS had created a new class for middle school students for the 2017 - 2018 school year called CAMS (Coding At Middle School). How CAMS will work is it is a year-long elective class which will meet every other day for an entire block (90 minutes). Students will be introduced to computational thinking and computer science in hopes they will continue with these types of classes during high school (and beyond!!). The class will be taught by a teacher certified in Math, Computer Science, or Business and Information Technology. Using project-based learning and collaboration, students taking CAMS will use the program Scratch for the first semester.
Scratch is a programming language which was developed at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Media Lab. Don't forget, this is the SAME EXACT lab where Seymour Papert developed his Logo programming language! Scratch was developed especially for children ages 8 - 16. With Scratch, children learn to program and can create interactive stories, games, and animations. Plus, there's an awesome Scratch online community so students share their creations and interact with others. The MIT Media Lab has done so much research on Scratch that it's too much to even list! Check out this link to view research papers and presentations from the Scratch website; it's great stuff!
Back to CAMS...for the second semester, students will use AgentCubes online, a 3-D game-designing program. AgentCubes online is an immersive, project-based learning program that teaches students how to code and computer program. Like Scratch, students can share their creations in an online community as well as play others' game creations. I couldn't find any research or scholarly papers on AgentCubes, but I did locate this blurb on their website (AgentSheets is the actual company name):
AgentSheets has been evaluated in large scale studies with 8000 students across the USA by the University of Colorado at Boulder School of Education and external evaluators. The results are overwhelmingly positive and suggest particularly high levels of motivation across gender and ethnicity by also indicate that students really gain measurable computational thinking skills.
Though I am thrilled that our students are being offered a coding class, I checked the 2017 - 2018 LCPS Middle School Program of Studies and was disappointed to see that CAMS has not been added as an elective course. I also checked LCPS curriculum guides and searched the LCPS home page-I found nothing about CAMS or course standards. So the only way parents and students would know this elective is an option would be through their guidance counselor as classes were being scheduled for this upcoming school year.
Last week my personal programmer (one of my sons) temporarily moved in with us. He has worked 5 years as the lead IT person at his dad's company, providing him with all the resources, access to experts programmers, and ill-structured problems that intrigue and motivate everyone with a passion for computer science. Having time to discuss his life goals and watching him navigate out of the defense contractor business has been fascinating. I asked him what really made him interested in programming as I only remembered that he helped me learn LOGO back in 2002 when I struggled with it in my ITS program. An after school programming club/class offered at Blue Ridge Middle was where he really caught the bug (lol!). He really made me see too this week that even I have a programmer's mind as he taught me some strategies to complete a sudoku. I have never tried one---now I'm obsessed as well as intrigued by its power to support 'thinking like a computer.' That's what my son told me to do. He explained his strategy in terms of programming steps. Believe it or not, I totally understood it better than the Life Lessons article I read: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/yolanda-reid-chassiakos/life-lessons-from-sudoku_b_662024.html
ReplyDeleteAfter you have done all of this research and investigation on coding and programming, what life lessons (generalizations) might you share with your students that draw from coding and programming? What strategies can be applied when times get tough for them as they solve math problems? What are some ways teachers can talk to students who feel that coding is beyond them?
I just feel there are too many people in the world who shy away from coding because they think it is a field for really really smart people or a certain type of thinker. I was one of those until I see myself using coding/programmer strategies to solve everyday problems, complete puzzles for enjoyment, or take on more difficult, complex challenges.
Thanks for the introduction to Scratch and AgentCubes! I'm looking for more ways to incorporate a coding mindset with my students. I think coding fits in with critical thinking, I see too many students just taking someone's word at face value and not really digging into what they have just said. I think it's a skill that goes across the board whether or not you consider yourself 'geeky' enough to try code - it's the logical thought process that is beneficial no matter what field our student's may end up in.
ReplyDelete