Category: Computer Science

Developing Computational Thinking Skills in Elementary School Students

As a science, technology, engineering, arts, and math (STEAM) educator, one of the subjects I teach is coding. My elementary school students enjoy coding; however, some students have a difficult time with large, complex coding projects because they struggle with breaking problems into smaller problems and also with debugging their code when it does not work properly. 

In an attempt to help my struggling learners, I conducted a literature review of 18 peer-reviewed research articles. Through that research, I discovered interventions for struggling students and a recommendation for implementing a comprehensive K-6 computer science curriculum.

To learn more, please read my research report, Developing Computational Thinking Skills in Elementary Students, or watch my five-minute overview video.

Creating a Formative Assessment for Fifth Grade

Formative assessment, assessment for learning that occurs during a unit of instruction, is dynamic assessment. It gives teachers the opportunity to find out what students are able to do on their own or with adult help and guidance (Shepard, 2000).

By making students’ thinking visible and open to examination, it can reveal what a student understands and what misconceptions they hold (Trumbull & Lash, 2013). It also provides opportunities for scaffolding steps between one activity and the next, for each individual student (Shepard, 2000).

Guided by Rubric 3.0, my third iteration of a rubric to assess other assessments, I have created the first draft of a formative assessment. Formative Assessment Design Version 1.0 is meant to be used during a fifth-grade robotics module that I teach. During a typical school year, I teach this module four or five times, so I look forward to revising this formative assessment over time to make it the best it can be.

References

Shepard, L. (2000). The role of assessment in a learning culture. Educational Researcher, 29(7), 4-14.

Trumbull, E. & Lash, A. (2013). Understanding formative assessment: Insights from learning theory and measurement theory. San Francisco: WestEd. Retrieved from www.wested.org/online_pubs/resource1307.pdf

 

Curiosity Never Grows Old

Since I was little, I have loved to draw. I enjoyed everything about it. I wanted to learn how to make animated movies but never did. Now as an art teacher and technology teacher, I have access to great technologies that can help me. In fact, I spent last year teaching K-5 students coding in ScratchJr, Hopscotch, and Tynker.

This summer I decided to take what I already know about coding from those applications and do what I’ve always wanted to do: make an animated movie. I created this animation using Scratch.

I drew all the sprites, customized the background, and did it. It’s only one minute long, but I am so proud of myself and I’m thrilled with the result. I am delighted to share that movie here:

Images

All images and videos in this blog post were created by Sarah Van Loo.