Hi everyone! Welcome to #caschat! We're @mycodekit (AKA @_melski and @ItsMiasTweets) and we‘ll be hosting tonight! Lets kick things off by introducing yourselves and telling us what advent calendar your have this year!
Hello #CASChat friends! Clement, STEAM Coordinator fr Zurich. Have not been in this chat for a while and am missing the great sharing that goes on here. Hello @mycodekit!
#caschat A1 We do this every year a who can write the most lines of code inter class challenge
https://t.co/pnespBz5Fq and ate loving Dance Party on @codeorg
A1. Ran an #HourOfCode session for parents today. Students are running sessions, teaching other students. Running some physical computing activities - robots, micro:bit & MakeyMakey. Made a site with links to students' favourite activities, so they can bring coding home. #caschat
A1: We use Hour of Code every week at Code Club so business as usual! The filter for Typing vs Blocks is so useful for keeping more advanced kids pushing themselves #caschat
Q2. We all know Grace Hopper, Ada Lovelace & Alan Turing! But who will be your inspiration this #hourofcode? How do you keep it relevant? #caschat#adalovelace
A2 They are all ever relevant but the videos within @codeorg provide more current references snd role models also their Dance party unit is fab. I defy anyone not to keep still and not engage #caschat
Q2. We all know Grace Hopper, Ada Lovelace & Alan Turing! But who will be your inspiration this #hourofcode? How do you keep it relevant? #caschat#adalovelace
#caschat my ex-students are my inspiration, explaining the apps they have created and where they have gone to and hopefully how to inspire them. proving someone from their background can be a success in coding
Love running parent sessions! @andrewpledger and I did this for our end of year @CodeClub session and it went down really well with everyone involved! #caschat
Honestly couldn’t agree more!! I met a female blacksmith who was amazing. She was 1 of 200 blacksmiths in the country and had so much passion and drive #CASChat
#caschat Computing is about time and energy. I'd love to have more curriculum time. The programming and accessing this first time is difficult too. Smallbasic we try to make fun....I wish i had a million hours to teach and plan
I think we need to break the stereotypes.
1. Computing isn't hard
2. it isn't (just) for Geeks
3. It isn't a 'boys' subject
4. We need some serious addressing of the subject knowledge gap at primary. #caschat
A3) Can't really speak for GCSE but I think at Primary level the children are enthusiastic we need to build teacher knowledge / confidence to get it going. I guess older children may see it as a difficult subject #caschat
#caschat I always say that there should be a sign "welcome to computing, this is hard" - we also get less curriculum time than every other bucket 2 subject.
I think the primaries do a good job in difficult circumstances, but would be amazing if coding was given proper space in curriculum so students come to secondary with a standard set of skills #caschat
#caschat our sign up rate for computing this year is 1/3 girls, that's down to the cyber security challenge and really focusing on making computing interesting and fun!
I think we need to break the stereotypes.
1. Computing isn't hard
2. it isn't (just) for Geeks
3. It isn't a 'boys' subject
4. We need some serious addressing of the subject knowledge gap at primary. #caschat
I think the impression that it's either plain maths or just making games. It's that and everything in between! I think most people don't realise the scope of computing until they've left school sadly, myself included.
#caschat however, that is down to secondary planning backwards. it's down to primaries and secondaries working together to make a proper learning journey
I think the primaries do a good job in difficult circumstances, but would be amazing if coding was given proper space in curriculum so students come to secondary with a standard set of skills #caschat
Definitely, a change from DfE on computers mgs place in curriculum would be great too. Our targets are based on maths KS2 scores, how about a computing score? #caschat
A3: Actually I think sometimes teachers are partly to blame. It's socially unacceptable for me to say "I'm rubbish at Maths" to students, because it devalues the subject. I think "I hate computers" should be similarly expunged from all school teachers' vocabulary. #CASchat
#caschat I'd love to do liason with primaries and really help them plan a curriclum in my area, i think it's so important to build that relationship to help primaries....
A3 cont. Just like "we're all teachers of literacy and numeracy" I think we should all be teachers of digital literacy too. All teachers. No excuses. This might need funding and teacher CPD but we must do it. No good letting the kids believe DL is unnecessary or hard. #caschat
A3 - I’m in primary so trying to get the passion for CS embedded. Some issues with girls not engaging ... bring on #Anna and #Elsa#Frozen@hourofcode (my y6 boys loved this too today!) #caschat
A3 cont Hat tip to @MissPhilbin who may have made this point a few years ago actually. It's why my newly appointed Digital Ambassadors will be offering ICT training to teachers soon! #caschat
A4) Mobiles could have a place even in Primary but safeguarding rules mean they are absolutely ruled out - I can see why but I can also see the other side. Tablets have their space though Scratch Jnr being a place to start. #caschat
Secondaries, yes and Primaries who took advantage of the @CodeClub devices. Other microcontrollers like @RedfernElec crumbke and @codebug are just as versatile and inexpensive #caschat
A3: Kit and time for people to prepare workshops especially for #physicalcomputing.. Kit share, share resources. #caschat.. I'm teaching #Spanish with it atm...
A3 Where to start! I think the first hurdle is perceived difficulty. Why are you going to risk doing a GCSE where you may get a lower score, than go for something safe where you get a higher score? #caschat
A5 keep failing make exercises where there it's lots of failure so they can learn from it. Understand what went wrong which leads to a solution #caschat
We have 6 someo minis so 4 or 5ss in a coding team to tackle an obstacle course @hodge_jo taught me week! #caschat. I have Christmas take and festive cups to put over the spheros and mark out the course #caschat
Definitely, I find Physical Computing helps students and young people understand concepts better! Kit sharing is a really good idea, especially with current budgets #caschat
A5: I normal tell students it pretty normal to hate a build mid way through... Get them to the end! Then they get its part of a process with #physical builds that's just sticking with it. Lead by example...( Also so when is #caschat? next time I'll not just stumble in 🤣)
I find students at our code club respond well to the idea that us adults can fail too. If we get something wrong or forget something we defer to them for an answer. Breaks down the adults know all and kids know nothing dichotomy #caschat
A5) From the start let them know mistakes will happen and it can be tough. Tons of reassurance that failure is part of learning and you won't break anything. Praise for fixing a problem, review afterwards to reinforce the mistakes are part of learning. #caschat
A5, Debugging stickers, FAQ but person helped becomes the expert for next person, limit support so pupils save it for harder things, try themselves first #caschat
Yes, we're really looking forward to @scratch 3.0 in January! Particularly looking forward to the integration with physical devices like Micro:bit #CASChat
In reply to
@MrsLMJ, @PyonkeeTeam, @ScratchJr, @scratch, @scratch
A3: What about the whole "I'll code games" dream which gets quashed in lesson 1? So many students I taught wanted to program games, and when I showed them how to code quickly changed their mind due to the amount of work involved. #caschat
A5, Relationship with students enable you to challenge effectively and keep them trying rather than giving up, explaining why resilience is important, modelling positive attitude in face of failure, especially in STEM lessons, it is ok to fail #caschat
A3 The Maths issue is a big one. As soon as you mention the m word, most people run a mile, even though they'll apply much more complex equations in other subjects. #caschat
A5 Setting the right level of challenge for tasks is starting point. Next developing, 'How did you learn?' and building awareness of need to make mistakes as part of process. Next continual reinforcement of gains that come from perseverance. No easy answer! #CASChat
A5 I always build examples with fails in them. Get them to run buggy code with infinite loops. Make it a talking point. Get them to discuss the problem and potential fixes. #caschat
#caschat A5 I do 2 full lessons at start of Y3 , focusing on resilience, encouraging computational thinking, using brain teasers, lots of discussion around telling ss not to be afraud of computers, trekking then how wonderful their brains are and reinforcing F.A.I.L to learn
Please join me in thanking @mycodekit for an awesome job hosting tonight!
Please join us next week for a Festive special!
Challenge: Bring a friend! :)
#caschat
