Programming Practice Using Scratch for Each Grade of Elementary School
A method of teaching programming at elementary school is required. Scratch can easily practice the programming. This paper presents teaching materials by grade level using Scratch. For first graders, it is a teaching material for exercises of mouse operation. For second graders, it is a teaching material for exercises of keyboard operation. Third graders perform typing operations in Roman or English. Fourth graders create a program that tackles sequential processing. Fifth graders create a program that involves iterative processing. Sixth graders create a program that involves conditional branches and iterations. Each is combined with many subjects of art, music, national language and arithmetic. These materials were used in classroom practice with many teaching assistants. It is designed to be performed in 45 minutes. This paper also presents the results of classroom practice using these materials.
Developing Computational Thinking in the Classroom: A Framework
Computational thinking sits at the heart of the new statutory programme of study for Computing: “A high quality computing education equips pupils to use computational thinking and creativity to understand and change the world” (Department for Education, 2013, p. 188). This document aims to support teachers to teach computational thinking. It describes a framework that helps explain what computational thinking is, describes pedagogic approaches for teaching it and gives ways to assess it. Pupil progression with the previous ICT curriculum was often demonstrated through ‘how’ (for example, a software usage skill) or ‘what’ the pupil produced (for example, a poster). This was partly due to the needs of the business world for office skills. Such use of precious curriculum time however has several weaknesses. Firstly, the country’s economy depends on technological innovation not just on use of technology. Secondly, the pace of technology and organisational change is fast in that the ICT skills learnt are out of date before a pupil leaves school. Thirdly, technology invades all aspects of our life and the typically taught office practice is only a small part of technology use today.
Science fairs as learning tool for teaching excellence
Science fairs are usually considered to be a pedagogical and cultural activity that involves the students actively. Gifted students need challenges to further develop their skills while maintaining the motivation level. Science fairs may provide the informal environment that will request and allow these students of excellence to challenge themselves by developing a scientific research project. Despite being well known in different countries, in Portugal first steps are being made on the use and implementation of science fairs as effective pedagogical tool. In this work, we will present a 4 years study that was developed on a Portuguese school with the main goal of evaluating the advantages of this informal way of teaching. The study includes an analysis of the evolution of the students’ knowledge that have participated, or visited, the different science fairs. Some advices for the implementation of these projects will be given. The motivation of the students was monitored as well as the knowledge and skills effectively improved by this activity.