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PD Workshop: Part II

Coding as Another Language (CAL)

Research Project funded by

US Dept of Education (U411C190006)

CAL-ScratchJr Curriculum

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PD Objectives

Part I:

Learn & develop expertise with the ScratchJr programming language

Part II:

Learn about DevTech’s approach for teaching coding in early childhood
Explore CAL-ScratchJr curriculum and lesson activities
Discuss CAL research study

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Meet the Evaluation Team

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Our Pedagogy: Four “powerful ideas”

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Idea 1: Coding as a Playground

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Look at this image of a playground. What are children doing in this type of play environment? (Probe participants).

Coding as a playground (vs coding as playpen): When engaging children in a computer science learning experience, we welcome play. Through play we can impact all areas of human development: cognitive, socio-emotional, language, moral, physical and even spiritual. The coding playground, in contrast to the coding playpen, promotes opportunities for open-ended exploration, creation of personally meaningful projects, imagination, problem-solving, conflict resolution and collaboration. The coding playground engages children in six behaviors that we can also find in the neighborhood playground: content creation, creativity, choices of conduct, communication, collaboration and community building. However, in the coding playground, for these behaviors to emerge, we need tools and pedagogies that are developmentally appropriate. When working with young children, it is not enough to borrow programming languages or approaches for middle school or high school. Hence my effort has been focused on creating developmentally appropriate languages such as ScratchJr and KIBO robotics, as well as the CAL pedagogy and curriculum.

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Idea 2: Coding as Another Language

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Programming, as a literacy of the 21st century, engages new ways of thinking, communicating, problem solving, and working with others.

Coding as another language (vs coding as STEM): Characterizing coding as a STEM activity is limiting. Instead, if we position the teaching and learning of programming as a new way of thinking and expressing ourselves, we are in the domain of language. Mastering a symbolic system of representation with communicative and expressive functions, opens up many opportunities. Learning to code becomes a creative, expressive activity, to produce something meaningful and sharable, and not only a problem-solving skillset. It has socio-emotional implications. The CAL pedagogy promotes the exploration of the similarities and differences between natural and artificial languages for the creation process, their syntax and grammar, and their potential to empower individuals. When coding is taught as a language, and not only as STEM, the human dimension comes into play.

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Sequencing and Storytelling

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Computational Thinking

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Powerful Ideas of Computational Thinking	Complementary Concepts in Language & Literacy
Algorithms	Sequencing
Modularity	Phonological Awareness
Control Structures	Literary Devices
Representation	Alphabet and Letter-Sound Correspondence
Hardware/Software	Tools of Communication and Language
Design Process	Writing Process
Debugging	Editing and Audience Awareness

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Idea 3: Coding as a Bridge

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Coding as a bridge (vs coding as a wall): Programming is a semiotic act that can enable human interactions. It is a meaning-making activity that uses and combines symbols to represent abstract ideas. When we learn to code, we learn a new language. Languages can create or destroy, can serve to build bridges or walls. In the coding playground, the intention is to build bridges. CAL proposes that by learning the artificial language of machines, we can also learn the human language that serves us to interact with others, to connect in deep ways and to craft I-Thou relationships, using Martin Buber’s term. Coding can become a bridge, as opposed to a wall that restricts communication and the free exchange of information. The metaphor of coding as a bridge promotes dialogue and meaningful encounters with others. It recognizes the potential of new ways of learning with and about technology to sustain global citizenship in our highly interconnected world with a diversity of local and universal identities and values.

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Idea 4: Coding as a Palette of Virtues

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Coding as a palette of virtues - Any human activity involves values and making choices to engage in some behaviors and not others. It also involves understanding and taking on responsibilities and consequences. The coding playground, through the CAL pedagogy, provides an intentional opportunity to teach and learn values. The metaphor of a palette of virtues recalls the painter’s palette. Like the artist who makes her palette with new colors and mixes and matches them, the coder also has a dynamic virtues palette that is put to use. In the coding playground, ten of these values are explicitly explored: Curiosity, perseverance, patience, open-mindedness, optimism, honesty, fairness, generosity, gratitude, forgiveness. However, new ones can be added. Creative programming can be a pathway for character development, for exploring the socio-emotional dimension and ethical dimension of learning. Ultimately, programming helps us to understand that our actions, like the actions of anyone who creates, have consequences.

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DevTech’s Approach for Teaching Coding...

How did you engage in these powerful ideas when you played with ScratchJr?

...as a playground

...as another language

...as a bridge

...as a palette of virtues

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To learn more, check out the book website!

https://sites.tufts.edu/codingasaplayground

For each chapter, there are:

Reading guidelines
Activity suggestions for hands-on play
Discussion prompts
Additional resources

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CAL-ScratchJr Curriculum

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Coding as Another Language (CAL)

24 lessons, 45 minutes each
Aligned to ELA and Computer Science frameworks
Warm up games, songs, books, movement and coding activities
Detailed activity guides for teachers

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sites.tufts.edu/codingasanotherlanguage

Click on Curricula → CAL-ScratchJr

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Curriculum Roadmap

LESSONS 5-9

Connecting programming in ScratchJr to sequencing and storytelling

LESSONS 13-20

Extending students’ knowledge of advanced programming concepts

LESSONS 1-4

Activating students’ knowledge about human and programming languages

LESSONS 10-12

Exploring debugging and problem-solving strategies

LESSONS 21-24

Synthesizing and celebrating students’ learning via an open-ended coding project

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Curriculum Overview

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Curriculum Overview

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Curriculum Overview

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Curriculum Overview

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Kindergarten ScratchJr Blocks & Skills

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First Grade ScratchJr Blocks & Skills

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Second Grade ScratchJr Blocks & Skills

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Student-facing materials

Lesson highlights

View or download individual lesson

Toggle through each lesson

Powerful ideas of each lesson

Learning goals & key vocabulary

Detailed activity guides for each lesson

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Examples of Songs, Games & Unplugged Activities

Clean Up Song (Lesson 3) - turning off tablets & putting them away safely
Hokey Pokey Song (Lesson 5) - sing, dance & program the Hokey Pokey!
Design Process Song (Lesson 7) - learn the steps of the iterative engineering design process
Express Yourself Activity (Lesson 13) - children plan to be an expressive character and other students guess what the student is trying to express

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Integration with Children’s Books

KINDERGARTEN

SECOND GRADE

FIRST GRADE

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Student-Facing Activities

Design Journals

Visual Literacy Activities

Formative

Assessments (Checks for Understanding)

Summative

Assessments (Show What You Know)

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Collaboration Web

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Deep Dive into a CAL-ScratchJr Lesson

Choose a lesson from the CAL-ScratchJr curriculum. Reflect:

What are the key learning goals of this lesson?
How does this lesson connect to other content areas?
What questions (if any) do you have about this lesson?
What adaptations might you make for your classroom and students?

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Share Reflections

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Pedagogical Strategies

What systems do you already have in place? How might you adapt those systems to implement this curriculum effectively?

Organization of materials
Safe handling of technology
Classroom management
Group sizes
Student support & collaboration
Lesson preparation
Coaching support & teacher collaboration

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CAL Research Study

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CAL Pilot Studies

California, USA

Minnesota, USA

Arkansas, USA

Buenos Aires, Argentina

Massachusetts (Boston), USA

Rhode Island, USA

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Results from CAL Pilot Study

Students made gains in their coding knowledge

Students made gains in their computational thinking skills

Teachers had positive experiences teaching coding

I think just knowing how boxed in I get as an adult - I shouldn’t put every adult there maybe because I'm older too - but how learning it along with them ... I didn't have like “this is how it should be” in my head already because I was an expert or had known about it. So I got to learn with them, and then that just opened my eyes to what theirs were as well.

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What does our study entail?

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Data Collection Instruments

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Completing Lesson Logs

Lesson Log: A brief 3-minute online survey to document how the lesson went for you & your students

Why complete lesson logs?

Reflect on own teaching practice
Document lesson modifications
Provide feedback to research & curriculum team

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Introducing the CAL ScratchJr App

Complete these steps with all students’ devices for every lesson.

1. Select the CAL ScratchJr App

2. Choose School ID

3. Choose Grade

4. Choose Classroom

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Which ScratchJr projects should be shared?

Kindergarten	Grade 1	Grade 2
Lesson 8: Program the Teddy Bear	Lesson 6: Re-code the Hokey-Pokey	Lesson 6: Tell a Story
Lesson 13: Expand Your Storytelling Toolbox	Lesson 10: Expand Your Storytelling Toolbox	Lesson 11: Our Classroom Story
Lesson 22: Final Project III	Lesson 22: Final Project III	Lesson 22: Final Project III

There are 3 lessons per grade that we will need support to send children’s projects:

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How do I share my students’ projects?

Change to student’s initials, followed by lesson number

Example: AU6

Send students’ projects to your email. Then download and upload all projects to a DevTech-provided Google Drive folder under your name

Upload each project straight to a provided Google Drive folder

A step-by-step instruction will follow. If you run into any issues, please contact us for further assistance.

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Who can I contact for support?

Virtual Coaching On-Demand

Email, Phone Call, Zoom

Virtual Technical Support

Email, Google Chat, Zoom

Brian Vitarisi

Digital Learning Specialist, Boston Public Schools

bvitarisi@bostonpublicschools.org

Parastu Dubash

CAL Grant Program Coordinator, DevTech Research Group, Tufts University

Parastu.Dubash@tufts.edu

Taryn Wenberg

Program Coordinator Intern, Department of Early Education, Boston Public Schools

twenberg@bostonpublicschools.org

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Acknowledgements

Primary Investigator�Dr. Marina Umaschi Bers

DoE Project Team�DevTech Research Group, Tufts University, Boston, MA

Shaffer Evaluation Group (Dr. Patricia Moore Shaffer)

Boston Public Schools (Jason Sachs)

This work was generously funded by the U.S. Department of Education (Grant No. U411C190006).

Slide Deck created by Madhu Govind

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Closing & Next Steps

Please complete the Post-Training Survey!

For specific ScratchJr app questions,

Email:

info@scratchjr.org

PD slides will be emailed to you

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