Is Michael Gove doing the right thing?

ICT education needs to change to stay relevant in an increasingly technological and computer-driven world. We must give our children the skills to understand and control it rather than be controlled by it.

Children need to know more than how to use basic desktop applications.

They increasingly need to understand how computers work.

My Scratch project

Curriculum area: Science “Life Processes and Living Things”

Target audience: Early KS2 (7-9 years)

Suggested context: 10 minute plenary to consolidate the learning of a session.

ChallengesTimings Walking

I sometimes felt like this…

Waiting around

Application in schools

1. As a teaching resource. To enrich lessons with engaging, visual and interactive interludes.

Pros• Stimulating and

promotes talk.• Targets visual and

auditory learning styles.

• Can contextualise abstract themes.

• Children love it!

Cons• Time consuming to

create.• Does it do anything

that Youtube cannot?

The children’s reaction to seeing Scratch for the first time.

Application in schools2. A starting point for implementing Michael Gove’s vision for the future of ICT education in primary schools.

Scratch enables even young children to engage, in a very real sense, with the process of computer programming without even realising they are doing so. The process is creative, collaborative, cross-curricular and fun.

Good practice in schools• Link it to a curriculum topic being studied.

• Paired work.

• Start with small, achievable objectives.

• Give children more autonomy over their work once their confidence with the software is established.

• Let the children teach each other. A problem shared is a problem halved!

• Celebrate their achievements.

Scratch workshop

“Dads do IT”

Eton Porny C of E First School

Dads do IT!Friday 14th June 2013

We are celebrating Father’s Day with a special event to challenge all dads to make IT happen!

Are you a dad who has a passion for computers? Do you want to find out more about the latest education software?

We will be exploring SCRATCH, an innovative, visual, tile-based programming tool which provides an introduction to programming for

children.

Make characters move across the screen and talk to each other.Please inform the office if you are able to join us for a day of

computer challenges.

Father’s do IT – lesson plan

Introduction

Show “living and non-living things” presentation on big screen to show the group what Scratch is and what can be done with it. Draw attention to the ‘script’ in the side panel which represents the programming. Explain that for each movement or action I have told the sprite how, when and where to do it.

Quick guided tour of the main functions – control, motion and looks (explain we will be ignoring the others in this session) Also show how to select a background.

Main session

Show how to move a sprite from one side of the screen to the other and challenge pupil-father pairs to do the same on their computers.

Challenge pairs to do the same but to then move the sprite back to the starting position again.

Stop groups working and show them on the big screen how to use character speech. Challenge them to use speech (or thought) bubbles in their animations.

Introduce alternate costumes and additional characters. Show how each new sprite requires its own block of programming script.

Challenge pairs to create their own short animation including at least 2 sprites, movement and dialogue. Plenary

Pairs showcase their animations on the big screen. Encourage them to talk about what was difficult and how they got around any problems.