With KS2 SATs fast approaching here's a school that has a unique and creative way of preparing. What better way of demonstrating understanding than by taking a past question and creating a 'how to' screencast?

Created on iPads it also shows how mobile technology can be used to add real value.

http://www.youtube.com/thebayprimary

“Computer science is a rigorous, fascinating and intellectually challenging subject.” So said Michael Gove in his speech at BETT in January 2012 as he talked about the need for “… encouraging rigorous computer science courses” and describing the current ICT curriculum as “… too off-putting, too demotivating, too dull.”

Summerfields Primary School in the Isle of Wight is not a school feeling under any constraints from the soon to be abandoned National Curriculum ICT Programme of Study. Year 6 has just completed a term of computer science.

Based on a scheme from New Zealand and available for free download (see below) the first job for Emma Wadmore who teaches ICT was to run it by a couple of recent computer science graduates who were mightily impressed by it. I visited the school at the end of the project to see part of the final lesson and to talk to three pupils.

After an introduction to the concept of computer science the first lesson introduced the 10/11 year olds to binary, a potentially difficult subject but one that was met with enthusiasm. While some children needed some support some made extension resources at home. This progressed into image representation where the children learned about pixels, decoded images and some even produced the code for their own. “Learning how to do binary and read it,” was one of Nathan’s favourite lessons.

The next lesson, on text compression, was difficult too not least because the children had criticisms of the compression used in the scheme! Apparently the example used single letters while the explanation said that it should be at least two.

Moving on to error detection the lesson involved a ‘trick’ to demonstrate parity. A further activity involving ISBN numbers could have been a problem because of changes since the scheme was written but the authors responded to an email by quickly sending out an update.

An interesting (and valuable) lesson on information theory followed. In the ‘information age’ this seems vital as well as the lessons the children have on validating information. The majority understood the notion of efficiency in guessing mystery numbers or letters but some didn’t get the concept of guessing the middle of a range and halving each time so some decision trees were a bit random. Hopefully this will give a little more meaning to probability lessons in mathematics.

The second half of the course focused on algorithms, what they are and how they are central to computer science. The class talked about what sort of problems they could use computers for and how they thought they would solve problems.

By now it was apparent how important binary is both in representation but also in searching. The class needed two goes at developing searching algorithms. Basically the game of  ‘find the number’ is pure guesswork, but the children need to use the binary methods they learnt previously to find the solution efficiently.

The children enjoyed learning about sorting networks. This reinforced the idea that computers need information in order to make a decision and that efficiency in network design was key to speed. Isabelle said that the game they played was one of the hardest things they did.

An activity called “The Muddy City Problem”, essentially a topological activity, emphasized the importance of efficiency when creating networks. Designing what are known as minimal spanning trees reinforced the mantra ‘start simple and tweak’ to make the most effective networks. Spatial awareness was a key skill here.

Routing and deadlock is something computer science shares with many networks i.e. many items trying to use the same resource. This was another activity that highlighted the need for logic over emotion and another that emphasised the importance of efficiency.

The children enjoyed their term of computer science by the end of which key themes such as binary and networks were emerging. It reminds one of the central importance of mathematics to computer science and that while numeracy is something universally in demand basic computation should not edge mathematical thought and problem solving to one side.

How do you assess this? A test? A piece of writing? No. Teams of four, a quiz and some tasks to complete (with something percussive to bash when your team has the answer). The tasks included a message to decode, code for an image to implement and a 16 node network to design.

Talking to the children it was clear that what they had done was very challenging. Isabelle and Zak described the work as “different” and lest this sounds like damning with faint praise Nathan said he preferred it to actually using the computers as he was “involved more.” Interestingly they all agreed that more girls should take up computer science. To sum up Isabelle said, “I enjoyed it. I had no idea any of this stuff even existed.” Nathan said it was exciting and that he had learned a lot and that there was so much more to it as well while Zak was waiting to see what Mrs. Wadmore would come up with next!

ICT boring? All about MS Office? Not here!

Resource:

Computer Science Unplugged - An enrichment and extension programme for primary-aged children

http://csunplugged.org/sites/default/files/activity_pdfs_full/CS_Unplugged-en...

I'm going to make a distinction between what most of us still see as discrete homework tasks and anytime, anyplace learning.

I'm also going to try very hard to outline the very minimum requirement and add possible extensions later. Apparently not everyone is as geeky about this sort of thing as I am! I don't believe it!

The default, ready made solution is a VLE. However, for a variety of reasons, not everyone has, or wants, one. The pros and cons of this are for another time.

For me, good homeworks are tasks that can be done independently thus reserving valuable class time when the teacher is present for activity that demands the teacher's skills.

The first job is to find a way of assigning the task in a consistent way so that children will always know where to find it; so will their parents, another happy side effect of working online. Teachers should have an online space, like a Google site or maybe a blog, where they can post tasks with links to resources and upload files. Even if you have a learning platform you should have this and link to it from your page. Then if you leave all the work you have done goes with you. All the teachers' locations should be accessible via a link from one point on the school website so that no matter who is giving the homework the children have one place to go to.

So that's the task set. It might be best if the first few tasks were of a type where they still have to be given in at school to keep all the new procedures to a minimum.

The next stage might be to give tasks that are performed online; for example a discussion, post a comment on the website/blog or leave answers on a Google form.

Then come electronic tasks that need to be delivered. The short answer is email but a more sophisticated and possibly easy solution is to have children upload their work to http://dropitto.me/ for which you need a Dropbox account too. The advantages of Dropbox could fill volumes. In short you give the children a link to your Dropittome page and a password that they use to upload their work which should be changed frequently to avoid being saturated with rubbish. When a child uploads the teacher gets a notification. Alternatively if a child has created something online on a web 2.0 site then they need only send the teacher a link.

Please visit the South East Grid for Learning (SEGfL) website to read my article.

http://www.segfl.org.uk/spot/post/british_pathe_and_the_olympics/

Please visit the South East Grid for Learning (SEGfL) website to read my article.

http://www.segfl.org.uk/spot/post/digital_storytelling/

Once again I read that a government minister wants to ban the use of calculators in primary schools in the mistaken belief that this will raise standards. When will they learn that this argument is not binary? It's not a question of use them for every little thing or don't use them at all.

So what's the point of calculators in a primary classroom? We need to undertand that no one reaches for a calculator when they can calculate the answer themselves. The idea defies common sense. We need our learners to be the best they can be, to achieve on mental tiptoe. If they are then they need to be able to decide with accuracy when a mental calculation will suffice, when to reach for a pencil and paper and when to call for a calculator.

When used appropriately like this and not as the crutch the minister imagines calculators bring other benefits. They allow access to areas of mathematics that would otherwise be beyond a learner's reach and can be a learning tool to enhance those very mental skills that poiticians are so quick to assume they replace.

They even demand an increase in mathematical capabilty in order that they be used effectively. The skill of estimation and other checking skills become vital so that an answer is not accepted at face value.

PowerPoint gets a lot of grief. We suffer from ‘death by PowerPoint’ to the extent that the mere sight of it in classrooms prompts the assumption that something unsuitable and unchallenging will be going on. There is a rush to espouse alternatives.

I don’t intend to mount a defence of a piece of software because it is just that, a piece of software. Of itself it’s neither good nor bad; it stands or falls by the way it is used. 

At worst I imagine that there are school servers full of presentations that are just a listing of facts; or am I too gloomy?

So what’s to be done? I’m going to suggest a few things that might help rehabilitate this unfortunate piece of software. Before the cries of, “You can do that with ****” begin I know that but I’ll make two points. First, it’s not about the software, it’s about using ICT to find a suitable solution to a task. Second it’s something that many people are comfortable with so why not get some positives from that rather than making it appear that there is something inferior about it?

So here we go. To state the blindingly obvious PowerPoint is presentation software so if a presentation is created it ought to be presented. Since I’ve seldom seen a professional use it well for the purpose for which it was intended there is useful learning to be had here.

So that the task doesn’t become a lifetime’s work I’ll suggest a couple of things. Your learners will hate you for it but set a limit of, say, four slides and insist on a plain white background. Couch the task in terms of the sort of vocabulary that prompts a response higher up Bloom’s Taxonomy than the basic, “Make me a PowerPoint about…”

Then they have to present!

They could make a scrolling information screen which requires no presentation but a different kind of capability.

What about an interactive one with hyperlinks to pages (and back again) so that it is an electronic reference? This can be developed into a branching database or an interactive adventure story.

If you’re looking for a quick and easy way to make a frame for MovieMaker or PhotoStory which has text with or without images then an easy way is to create it as a PowerPoint slide and save as a JPEG.

PowerPoint can be used to model phases of history if the transitions are set up proportionately to represent periods of time. Just let it run without having to press any keys and a slide will stay on the screen for a period that represents that event in terms of the time it lasted compared to other events in the sequence. It's an electronic timeline. Choose images and text that reflect the event. Try British monarchs of the 20^th century and see Edward VIII whizz by while George VI stays on the screen for longer. OK not an exciting project but you get the idea.

If the frames are set to transition automatically and rapidly you can make an animation. Save it as a movie rather than a presentation and no one need ever know!

PowerPoint also provides a cheap alternative to buying a branching database which is often used only in a small window each year.

There are lots of other things you can do using sound and dialogue boxes and so on but I’m not suggesting PowerPoint ad nauseam. It’s really important to have experience with a variety of software perhaps even comparing applications to perform the same task and talking about the issues. My point is that a piece of software is only as good or as bad as the quality of the task that has been set.

And lastly, if it's not a presentation to a copresent audience, publish it so that the work has an audience.

Eric Schmidt, Google's chief executive, has supplied me with a couple of good quotes over the years and I was interested to hear that he is "flabbergasted" that computer science is not taught as standard in Britain's schools. It's not a word I associate with American executives!

If the BBC is to be believed, and it is usually only nuance it gets wrong, there is much to agree with in his recent speech to the Edinburgh International Television Festival. We have an amazing heritage of life changing inventions only to lose the initiative of their development. Football is much the same!

He mentions the BBC computer initiative of the 1980s and while I doubt the revival of BBC BASIC was at the heart of his comments I'd like to put in a plug for a language that embodies much that is good in programming in terms of efficiencies and is also algebraic and saw great benefits for mathematics learning 20 years ago.

I'd take issue with one thing though. It is not that the National Curriculum is just about using software rather than how it is made, it is rather that 'making things happen' is neglected. This has more to do with the confidence of those who have to deliver it than an intention to ignore it.

Using software is important but I don't mean which buttons to press. We have not yet reached the point where it is intuitively used to support learning.

In the end there are opportunities to program but they need to be grasped. If there is an argument to be had about its place in schools it is not about whether it is present in the current National Curriculum but about its extent.

What do you get when you cross The National Archives, The British Film Institute, English Heritage and the technology available to the South East Grid for Learning (SEGfL)? Answer - an amazing resource called Unlocking Archives. The introductory film at http://unlockingarchives.nen.gov.uk/introduction/ explains what this combination brings to learning far better than I can.

Unlocking Archives is an exciting collaboration between The National Archives, British Film Institute (BFI), English Heritage and the South East Grid for Learning that pulls together archive photographs, film extracts and documents to provide a rich online resource for the History and Citizenship classrooms at key stages 2, 3 and 4.

The National Archives holds 1000 years of history from the Domesday Book to the present, with records ranging from parchment and paper scrolls through to recently created digital files and archived websites. Increasingly, these records are being put online, making them universally accessible.

The British Film Institute brings Screenonline its free and unparalleled online guide to British film and television from the 1890s to the present day, containing more than 3000 (and counting) film and television titles.

English Heritage gives The Heritage Explorer website giving teachers and learners free access to over 360,000 images, plus teaching and learning activities, interactives and whiteboard resources.

South East Grid for Learning is a Regional Broadband Consortium and a National Education Network (NEN) Provider, driving pilot broadband projects and helping schools make the very best use of new communications technologies.