The workshop about block-based programming for elementary school teacher

Block-based programming

01

Scratch

(https://scratch.mit.edu/)

Entry

(https://playentry.org)

The workshop about block-based programming for elementary school teacher

Why I chose this topic?

01

• In South Korea, Software education (as known as coding education) has been adapted as a regular curriculum for elementary school students since 2019.

• The Ministry of Education in South Korea has been operating workshop for elementary school teachers.

• However, a lot of in-service teachers are unfamiliar with Software education yet. And only about 500 elementary school teachers have been able to participate in the workshop.

(There are about 165,000 elementary school teachers in South Korea.)

• Therefore, I thought that the workshop related to block-based programming for elementary school teachers need to be expanded.

1) Regular curriculum for elementary school students in South Korea

The workshop about block-based programming for elementary school teacher

Why I chose this topic?

01

• I have experience as an instructor in teacher workshops on the curriculum of Software education.

• I hoped to expand this experience to the Instructional Designer as designing this workshop.

2) Hoped to expand my experience to the Instructional Designer

3) Increase in Zoom workshops for teachers in South Korea due to COVID-19

• There have been operated a lot of workshops for teachers in South Korea in Zoom due to COVID-19.

• I selected this topic that learners could easily practice in an online synchronous environment, even if not face-to-face in the COVID-19 situation.

• I thought I need to consider today’s COVID-19 situation.

The workshop about block-based programming for elementary school teacher

Project overview

02

After attending the online synchronous workshop, all teachers who participated in the workshop will be able to create their own block-based program to prepare to deliver lessons to their students.

Instructional Goal

Agenda

1) Identify the curriculum

2) Create the Entry account

3) Design a block-based program

4) Create a block-based program

5) Prepare for delivering the lesson

The workshop about block-based programming for elementary school teacher

1) Identify the curriculum

• The learners should read the curriculum in the government-led website (Edunet) before participating in this workshop.

• The learners will participate in an open discussion about the curriculum guided by the instructor in Zoom

10 minutes

• This activity is intended for learners to explore, discuss and understand the curriculum of Software education in South Korea. Based on this activity, the following activities will be carried out.

03

The workshop about block-based programming for elementary school teacher

2) Create the Entry account

• The instructor will share the infographic as a job-aid for the learners who need additional help.

• The learners can create their own Entry accounts based on their Entry skills for this workshop.

10 minutes

03

• This activity is for learners to sign up for the Entry website.

The workshop about block-based programming for elementary school teacher

3) Design a block-based program

• At the beginning of this activity, the instructor will share this short video about the explanation of the algorithm for the learners.

• The learners will be able to design their own program based on their understanding of the curriculum of Software education in Activity 1.

10 minutes

03

• This activity is for learners to design their own program before they practice Entry.

The workshop about block-based programming for elementary school teacher

4) Create a block-based program

• At the beginning of this activity, the instructor will share examples of block-based programs for the learners.

• The learners can create their own block-based program along with the guidance of the instructor.

15 minutes

03

• This activity is to provide learners with the opportunity to practice block-based programming with Entry.

The workshop about block-based programming for elementary school teacher

5) Prepare for delivering the lesson

• The instructor will send the link to the survey (Google Forms) to the learners to evaluate this workshop.

​

• The learners will participate in this survey after this workshop.

• The learners will share their idea of delivering the lesson to their future students. (Open-discussion in Zoom)

15 minutes

03

The workshop about block-based programming for elementary school teacher

Pilot Test

04

• I met two elementary school teachers in South Korea in Zoom for the pilot test.

• I sent the survey link (Google Forms) of the evaluation of this pilot test to the pilot testers.

The feedback they provided in the pilot test

• The contents were easy and fun to practice Entry in this one-hour workshop.

• By practicing based on the curriculum rather than simply practicing the Entry, I was able to think ahead of time what I would deliver to my future students.

• I am ready to deliver the lesson on block-based programming to my students as I practice Entry in this workshop.

Originally in Korean, translated into English

Thank you very much!

References

• Dick, W., Carey, L., & Carey, J. O. (2015) The systematic design of instruction (8th ed). Pearson Education.​
• Scratch. Retrieved in http://scratch.mit.edu
• Entry. Retrieved in http://playentry.org
• Lee, H., Sung, J., & Yoon, I. (2021). Current status and future of SW·AI education policy in a government-affiliated institute (KOFAC). Communications of the Korean Institute of Information Scientists and Engineers, 39(9), 57-69.
• Kim, M., & Park, S. (2019). The analisys of ‘software education’ unit in the practical arts textbooks according to 2015 revised curriculum. Journal of the Korean Association of Information Education, 23(3), 255-264. http://doi.org/10.14352/jkaie.2019.23.3.255
• Kim, K. (2016). A recognition analysis of elementary teachers for software education of 2015 revised korea curriculum. Journal of The Korean Association of Information Education, 20(1), 47-56. http://doi.org/10.14352/jkaie.2016.20.1.47