Computing An introduction

EV681

University of Brighton, School of Education

Starter activity

I

In pairs discuss the activity you carried out

and think about the following questions:

How did the children respond?

What strategies did you use to support their

learning?

How does this link to the Plowman or

Stephens?

How does this support the ELGs of the EYFS?

Programming with Daisy the

Dinosaur

Open the Daisy the Dinosaur app

on your iPad (swipe down to

search).

Work through as many of the

challenges as you can.

As you work, think about which aspects of the task children aged 5-7 might find most challenging.

By the end of today’s session you should…

● Be familiar with the expectations for the teaching of computer science

at Key Stage 1

● Be able to understand the term algorithm

● Understand the term debug and know the difference between syntax

errors and logic bugs

● Know what is meant by the term logical reasoning

● Be familiar with simple block-based programming and be able to create simple sequences of instructions to achieve a specific outcome

Intended Learning Outcomes

The National Curriculum Programmes of Study for computing state that

children at Key Stage 1 should be taught to:

● understand what algorithms are; how they are implemented as programs

on digital devices; and that programs execute by following precise and

unambiguous instructions

● create and debug simple programs

● use logical reasoning to predict the behaviour of simple programs

Computer Science at Key Stage 1

An algorithm is a sequence of precise and unambiguous instructions that are followed in order to achieve a specific outcome.

What is an algorithm?

Learn more >

Debugging is the process of

finding and correcting errors in a

computer program.

Learn more >

What is debugging?

Logical reasoning is the process

of applying rules to problem

solving.

Learn more >

What is logical reasoning?

ScratchJrIn pairs, work your way through the ‘Spooky Forest’ Hour of Code Activity (see handout)

See also link here

“The core of computing is computer science”

Information TechnologyDigital Literacy

Computer Science

DFE, National Curriculum

“A high-quality computing education equips pupils to use computational

thinking and creativity to understand and change the world.”

—DfE, National Curriculum

What is computational thinking?

– Jan Cuny, Larry Snyder, and Jeannette Wing

“Computational thinking is the thought processes involved in formulating

problems and their solutions so that the solutions are represented in a form that

can effectively be carried out by an information-processing agent.”

Abstraction

Logical reasoning Generalisation

Decomposition

Pattern recognition Algorithmic thinking

Computational thinking

How is this computing?

Watch the ‘unplugged’ activity at the link below. Think about how this relates to the National Curriculum content for computing at KS1 (shown in the previous slide).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2zVpWu1i5qM

Subject content for KS2:

• design, write and debug programs that accomplish specific goals, including controlling or simulating physical systems; solve problems by decomposing them into smaller parts

• use sequence, selection, and repetition in programs; work with variables and various forms of input and output

• use logical reasoning to explain how some simple algorithms work and to detect and correct errors in algorithms and programs

Sequence, repetition & selection

“use sequence, selection, and repetition in programs”

- Subject content KS2

Sequence: putting instructions in an order where each one is executed one after the other

Repetition: one or more instructions are repeated a number of times or until a condition is met or the program is stopped

Selection: instructions are executed depending on whether a particular condition is met

Scratch: Hungry Monkey 1

http://scratch.mit.edu/projects/23390939/

Can you make the monkey sprite move left and right when the left and right arrow keys are pressed? When you have completed the task use ‘Add comment’ (right click) to explain how ‘repetition’ and ‘selection’ are used in the programming structure.

Save to your profile.

Scratch: Hungry Monkey 2

http://scratch.mit.edu/projects/23390750/

Can you make the monkey jump to catch the bananas? You will have to use a ‘wait block’ somewhere in the algorithm. Add a comment to explain the importance of ‘sequence’ in the algorithm you create. Save this to your profile.

Variables“work with variables” - Subject content KS2

Variables are containers for data. They enable us to store, retrieve or change data. A variable could be used in a game to keep track of a user’s score or to remember a player’s name.

Scratch: Hungry Monkey 3 http://scratch.mit.edu/projects/23390

032/

Can you make the bananas disappear when the monkey touches them and the score board work to keep track of the number of bananas monkey has caught? Add a comment to explain how sequence is important when placing the variable blocks (see opposite) into the algorithm.

Readings

Berry, M (2014) Computing in the national curriculum: A guide for primary teachers. Available http://www.computingatschool.org.uk/data/uploads/CASPrimaryComputing.pdf

Chapter 8 ‘Programming and computational thinking’ in Turvey, K. Potter, J. Burton, J. (2016) Primary Computing and Digital Technologies; Knowledge, Understanding and Practice, London: Sage, Learning Matters.