Amazon S3

 Video Script: Coding for all subjectsDid you know that coding and computational thinking can easily be integrated in your lesson, regardless the subject you teach?In this video you will find out how coding can actually be integrated, and why it should be integrated, in different subjects, even though you have no previous experience.The teachers of the video will explain you for instance how to use a CLIL lesson to explain a daily life algorithm, or why using educational robots can boost student’s motivation in maths and science. Do you want to know how? Keep watching.I have prepared a CLIL lesson for a group of primary students aged 9-10 where we have used a CLIL lesson to explain a daily life algorithm, so teaching Science in English through coding! This activity is very meaningful because students have started to develop their computational thinking skills by decomposing large activities into smaller series of events, arranging sequential events into a logical order and using the algorithm to plant their seed. Most importantly, they have developed their soft skills by working in small groups and having fun!In my activity, we used educational robotics to learn mathematics and science. The aim of the activities was to lead to the creation of objects or prototypes in a short time following a predominantly playful approach. The students began programming on the board, but they also used the free app to do so, which allowed the students to expand the possibilities for exponential control. If you are wondering if pupils had fun, I can only tell you they came to school during the weekend and it was difficult to get them back home. Interesting, right? Well, these are only some example of activities that can be carried out through coding, but your students can also develop their creativity, problem solving or manual skills by creating a felt joystick connected to Makey Makey or learn music through coding. Let’s see how.Our activity is a STEAM transversal activity for primary and lower secondary students where teachers can integrate any content. In our case, this is a science activity because it deals with control of population, and it?s something that we have developed in the technology class in an easy way and with very cheap materials. The activity has two different parts, but they can be developed at the same time by small groups of 4-5 students.The first part of the activity is targeted at developing creativity and manual skills in primary or secondary students. During this activity, they will think about a physical object they can create. In this case they have built a prototype of a joystick that they will connect in the second part of the activity to the Makey Makey board. The idea here is that students become real makers and develop their creativity using cheap materials such as book binders, felt colors, fill, needle, thread and scissors. It?s really hands-on learning and they have a lot of fun while learning!The second part of the activity is aimed at lower secondary students, and they will have to order ideas and execute orders that form a set, a simple video game with Scratch 3.0. In the second part of the activity, students have to create a simple game. In this case, they create four push buttons with conductive dough to move the elements of the game (up, down, right and left) with conductive dough and then connect it with the Makey Makey board. This way they will not only develop their creativity or manual skills, but also their computational thinking when creating and programming the video game with Scratch 3.0. When doing similar activities, you will see that you students will be more engaged, but most importantly, that they will learn while having a lot of fun. But coding is not something that only STEM teachers can do.Let’s see now how coding can also be integrated in your lesson if you are teaching Music, for instance. You can ask your students to create their own musical instruments, such as for instance a veggie piano or a cardboard guitar like this one. Besides, you can also ask them to work with Sonic Pi, a coding environment designed to support both computing and music lessons in schools.Indeed learning music through coding is also possible! In our case, we have used Sonic Pi, a software open source to write and create music. Some of the activities that students can do with this software are for instance to discover the controls: with play and sleep using numbers, students can modify musical tones, and writing simple melodies with lines of code. They can also rewind musical composition and, if it’s necessary, they correct it. Besides, students also discover the list of Synth. Synth is short for “synthesizer”, a word the software uses to refer to something that creates sound. Synths are usually quite complicated to use, but Sonic-pi makes it very easy to use and fun! Working with this activity helps students to improve their creativity, but at the same time they can also get to know the structure of musical composition through coding. Students also lead their own learning process, which is essential in school. As you have seen so far, using coding in your lesson has many benefits for both teachers and students, but why should teachers integrate coding in their lessons?On the one hand, it allows you as a teacher to diminish the generational technological gap between you and your students, and it also helps them to become active users rather than being only passive users of technology. Besides, coding helps you sorting your ideas, planning your options and making decisions, but most important, it?s also fun for teachers and students!As a teacher of English, I can also tell you that tools like Scratch, for instance, are great to develop the foreign language competence, as students can create their own stories. Besides, coding has many other benefits for students too, as it helps them develop their creativity and critical thinking without even realizing. Although you think integrating coding in the classroom is very time consuming, it is much easier than you think. We all had a first time, and it was not that bad!In my case, I was very afraid of not being able to manage a structured lesson with a different setting. I presented the blue-bots as friends who would help us learn in a more active and funnier way, and suddenly magic happened: I had never seen so much involvement and enthusiasm on my students! And most important, the fear had disappeared. I was also very scared, because I didn’t know where to start from, then I decided to begin from my students, and they were very happy to have the change to ¨teach the teacher¨. This is something all teachers should try out in their class.We know however that first times can be also be quite challenging, quite hard, and teachers are usually very busy or scared to try out new things, but guess what? This is really worth it. Keep watching to know why.Teachers say coding is important for us, but I don’t understand why. But I like these activities because we work together.The first times you try out a coding activity you will not understand much, but then you will discover a universal language that students like and enjoy very much. Many teachers also say that they do not have time to try out new things. I think all teachers should try coding activities in their lessons, it is really fun. And if you don’t know how to do it don’t worry, we are here to help you. Don’t be afraid to try out and make mistakes, this is the best way to learn.So, as you have seen, integrating coding in the classroom has many benefits, but the most important thing is: we have fun!So wait no more, go to the Code Week website of schools, try out any of our lesson plans in the Learning Bits that we have produced so far, and try out one of them with your students. But most important, don’t forget to add your activity in the Code Week map. ................
................

In order to avoid copyright disputes, this page is only a partial summary.

Google Online Preview   Download